A group of schoolchildren marked the lead-up to International Children's Day in Erbil June 9 with a protest against Iranian shelling of Iraqi Kurdistan. The children gathered outside the city's Iranian consulate to chant "No, no to war. Yes, yes to peace" and "Stop the shelling of Iraqi Kurdistan." They then handed in a letter to the consular officials, reading: "We as the children of Kurdistan want the immediate cessation of the Iranian artillery shelling of Kurdish villages of South Kurdistan. The artillery shelling kills people, scars children, displaces villagers. That is why we urge the Iranian regime to stop the bombardment of South Kurdistan border areas. In solidarity with the children, affected by this bombardment of Iranian artillery shelling, we, the Children of Erbil will not be going to celebrate the 'Children's International Day'." (Kurdish Media, June 9)

Amnesty International on June 7 urged European leaders to stop the upcoming deportation of asylum seekers to Iraq because their human rights may be violated in unsafe regions of the country. Authorities in the UK, Belgium, Sweden, Norway, and the Netherlands are taking part in a joint effort to return the refugees to Iraq after the asylum petitions of many of the refugees were denied. Amnesty contends that the planned deportations violate the rules of the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR), which oppose forced returns to specific areas in Iraq considered too dangerous for civilians. The International Federation of Iraqi Refugees (IFIR) also condemned the return of refugees to high-risk areas in Iraq, alleging that more than 100 Iraqi refugees in the UK will be deported this week.

The US Navy announced June 7 that it will appeal an appeals court ruling overturning the conviction of US Marine Sgt. Lawrence Hutchins III. Hutchins, who was convicted in 2007 for the 2006 kidnapping and murder of an Iraqi civilian in Hamdania, remains in the brig at Camp Pendleton while the Navy appeals to the US Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces. Hutchins' defense attorney Marine Capt. Babu Kaza has described the appeal as without merit, and has called it politically motivated. The appeal comes despite a recommendation to the contrary by a legal adviser that it would not likely yield a different result. If the appeal fails, the case would be returned to Camp Pendleton where a general will decide whether to retry the case.

Iraq's Independent High Electoral Commission (IHEC) announced on May 16 that the partial recount of the March parliamentary elections will not alter seat allocations awarded in accordance with the provisional results. The commission held that the original count showed no signs of fraud or major irregularities, and confirmed the two-seat lead of the the Iraqiya coalition of Iyad Allawi over al-Maliki's State of Law coalition.

Hundreds of Iraqis were injured and 85 killed in a series of bomb attacks across the country May 10, marking the bloodiest day since the beginning of this year. The capital alone was hit by more than a dozen attacks, carried out by roadside bombs, rigged cars and automatic weapons fired from cars against police and security forces at checkpoints. In Basra 13 were killed and 64 injured in an attack apparently aimed against a police patrol. Nonetheless it turned out that almost all of the victims were civilians, mostly hit in crowded places.

A Virginia military jury on May 6 acquitted US Navy SEAL Matthew McCabe on charges of assaulting a high-profile Iraqi detainee. Petty Officer 2nd Class McCabe was accused of punching Ahmed Hashim Abed, implicated in the killing of four American contractors in Fallujah in 2004. McCabe was charged with assault, dereliction of duty, and lying to investigators, and he could have faced up to a year in prison if convicted. The prosecution's key witness testified that he saw McCabe punch Abed, but the testimony was contradicted by several defense witnesses. The jury deliberated for an hour and 40 minutes before returning a verdict of not guilty.

The US Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces on May 3 heard arguments in the appeal of Army Spc. Charles Graner, sentenced to 10 years for abuses committed at Baghdad's Abu Ghraib prison. Graner, alleged ringleader of the Abu Ghraib abuse, was convicted in 2005 of conspiracy, assault, maltreating prisoners, dereliction of duty, and committing indecent acts. Graner's lawyer argued that the defense was denied access to classified documents that may have shown some of the detainee treatment was actually part of the "enhanced interrogation techniques" approved by then-Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld. The government argued that the defense had access to the documents before the trial. A ruling is expected by August.

Calling it a case of "collateral murder," the WikiLeaks website has released a video of a US Army Apache helicopter in Baghdad in 2007 repeatedly opening fire on a group of men that included a Reuters photographer and his driver—and then on a van that stopped to rescue one of the wounded men.