A three-judge panel of the US Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit rejected April 24 a lawsuit by four UK citizens and former Guantánamo Bay detainees against former US defense secretary Donald Rumsfeld and other military officials. The opinion affirmed a district court decision dismissing illegal detention and mistreatment charges under the Alien Tort Statute, the Geneva Conventions, and the Fifth and Eighth Amendments of the US Constitution against Rumsfeld and other military officials—but reversed the lower court's decision to reject a motion for dismissal of two additional charges against the defendants.

A US district court judge in Washington DC April 22 adopted a new standard for authorizing and reviewing the detention of terrorism suspects at Guantánamo Bay proffered by the Department of Justice last month. The DoJ submitted a memorandum in March asking the court to use a new standard for adjudicating habeas corpus petitions filed by Guantánamo detainees.

President Barack Obama said April 21 that he would not rule out the possibility of prosecuting lawyers responsible for authoring memos released last week outlining CIA interrogation policies. Obama had previously said that he would not pursue prosecutions of CIA interrogators, a pledge which drew sharp international criticism.

President Barack Obama, making his first trip to CIA headquarters April 20, acknowledged that agency officials had expressed what he called "understandable anxiety and concern" about his decision to release confidential memos detailing brutal interrogation techniques used by agency operatives. Obama said it was time to admit "mistakes" and "move forward." Among other things, the memos revealed that two captured al-Qaeda operatives—Abu Zubaydah and Khalid Sheikh Mohammed—were subjected to waterboarding a total of 266 times.

US President Barack Obama April 16 issued a statement asserting his intention not to investigate individuals who used or authorized "enhanced interrogation techniques"—the same day the Department of Justice released memos outlining CIA use of these techniques. The president urged the country to look forward, rather than to the past, saying:

Guantánamo Bay detainee Mohammad El Gharani has alleged that he has been recently abused by guards at the military prison, according to an April 14 report by AlJazeera. El Gharani, a Chadian national, reportedly made the allegations during a phone interview with the Middle Eastern news service, saying that guards regularly beat him, have used tear gas against him, and have broken his teeth. He said the abuse started before US President Barack Obama took office, but has still continued.

The administration of President Barack Obama will appeal a ruling made last week by Judge John Bates of the US District Court for the District of Columbia that allowed detainees being held by the US in Afghanistan to proceed with habeas corpus challenges to their detention. Word of the appeal came April 10 in a motion filed by the US Department of Justice (DoJ) seeking certification of the court's order so that the DoJ can file an interlocutory appeal of the ruling, which approved habeas challenges by four foreign-born detainees being held at Bagram Air Base.

CIA director Leon Panetta said in an official statement April 9 that the agency will no longer use secret overseas prisons or "black sites" to hold terrorism suspects, adding that plans are being made to shut the remaining overseas detention facilities down. Panetta also wrote that he has ordered that the "contracts for site security be promptly terminated." The statement did not give details as to where such detention facilities have been or are still located.