[JURIST] Kuwait's high court Saturday upheld a May lower court decision [JURIST report] acquitting five Kuwaiti citizens formerly held at the US prison camp in Guantanamo Bay [JURIST news archive] of alleged connections with al Qaeda. The five men were returned [JURIST report] to Kuwait in November and subsequently charged with membership in the terrorist organization and for fighting against the US, which Kuwait [JURIST news archive] considers a close ally. Kuwait state news agency KUNA [media website] said Kuwait's Court of Cassation ruled in favor of the men because there was not enough evidence to prove the charges against them.

The Kuwaiti citizens had been held in Guantanamo Bay since the US invasion of Afghanistan [JURIST news archive] in 2001 following the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks [JURIST news archive] on the US. Reuters has more.

12:30 PM ET 07/23/06 - The five men whose acquittals were upheld Saturday - Abdullah Saleh al-Ajmi, Abdul-Aziz al-Shimmiri, Adel Zamel Abdul-Mohsen, Saad Madhi al-Azmi and Mohammed Fnaitil al-Dehani - were among the twelve plaintiffs in Al Odah v. US, later joined with Rasul v. Bush and decided by the US Supreme Court in 2004. Claiming that they had been doing humanitarian work in Afghanistan when local villagers seeking bounties turned them over to US forces, the men sought a court order requiring the US to inform them of the charges against them and allow them to communicate with their familes. The Supreme Court granted certiorari on the narrow question of whether US courts had jurisdiction to hear challenges by Guantanamo detainees. The court eventually ruled [opinion text] that they did.

[JURIST] A spokesman for Mexican President Vicente Fox [official website, in Spanish; BBC profile] said Friday that citizens should show respect for the law as the Electoral Tribunal of the Federal Judiciary [official website] continues to evaluate the results of the country's contested July 2 presidential election [JURIST report]. Spokesman Ruben Aguilar [official profile] stressed the administration's decision to not interfere with the court's process and said the decision will be made in adherence to the law without any illegal pressure or blackmail efforts. Mexico's Federal Election Institute (IFE) [official website, in Spanish] originally announced that conservative candidate Felipe Calderon [campaign website, in Spanish; Wikipedia profile] had won more votes than opposing candidate Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador [campaign website, in Spanish; Wikipedia profile]. But the results were met with allegations of fraud by Obrador's camp who have petitioned [JURIST report] the electoral court for a "vote by vote" recount of the ballots. Obrador has meanwhile called for a campaign of "peaceful civil resistance" [JURIST report] to protest the results.

The Electoral Court [official website, in Spanish] will begin holding hearings with opposing party members in the coming week to help determine the election's outcome. A deadline of August 31 has been set for the court to come to a final decision on the contested election and the body must announce the winner on September 6. President Fox will officially step down on December 1. Mercopress has more.

[JURIST] A new federal lawsuit has been filed against banned American military contractor Custer Battles [corporate website] and two former Pentagon officials alleging that the defendants tried to bypass a suspension order against the contractor by setting up shell companies to continue gaining rebuilding contracts in Iraq. The lawsuit, a copy of which was obtained by AP, names former acting Navy Secretary Hansford T. Johnson [official profile] and former acting Navy Undersecretary Douglas Combs as co-conspirators in the scheme. The suit was brought by two whistleblowers, including Robert Isakson, a former employee of the contractor who won [JURIST report] a previous suit against Custer Battles in March based on allegations that the firm overcharged the US Coalition Provisional Authority [official website] by nearly $50 million.

Custer Battles was barred from doing business in 2004 after charging the US government for contracting work in Iraq that was never actually completed. The new lawsuit also alleges that the shell companies created by Custer Battles sold weapons on the black market in Iraq, which were likely purchased by Iraqi insurgents for use against US soldiers. The two whistleblowers were able to file the suit on behalf of the US government under the federal False Claims Act [text] which also entitles them to a portion of damages awarded if the case is successful. AP has more.

[JURIST] The US Court of International Trade [official website] ruled [opinion, PDF] Friday that the US must abide by a North American Free Trade Agreement [text] panel ruling that improper duties were levied on Canadian softwood lumber used in US housing construction jobs. The president of the British Columbia Lumber Trade Council [trade website], John Allan [profile], said $1.2 billion in duties collected by the US since November 2004 would need to be refunded as a result of the ruling. The court is still considering what action to take on the $3.4 billion in duties paid by Canada before November 2004.

The court's ruling is expected to have an effect on a softwood lumber trade agreement [PDF] that Canada and the US initialed [Canada PM press release] earlier this month, but which the Canadian lumber industry has been hesitant to approve. The 7-year deal intended to end the long-running softwood lumber dispute [CBC backgrounder] between the two countries would reimburse $4 billion to Canada but would allow US lumber producers to keep $1 billion. Canadian critics say their government was too lenient in drafting the deal and lumber industry members have specifically opposed a clause that would give the US the option to walk away and re-impose duties. Reuters has more.

[JURIST] The last individual believed to have been still in detention after a US immigration and security sweep [US DOJ backgrounder] picked up some 1200 mostly Arab and Muslim men following the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks [JURIST news archive] has been released, according to his lawyer Friday. Benamar Benatta, an Algerian, was detained when Canadian officials turned him over to the US after learning of his Muslim background and flight experience. Benatta had been in Canada seeking asylum after exceeding a six-month visa in the US. The office of the Canadian Consulate General [official website] in Buffalo, New York granted Benatta temporary residency this week and the former detainee has gone to Ontario, Canada to seek political asylum again.

Initially kept in solitary confinement for six months, Benatta was cleared of any terrorist activity in November 2001 and was charged with carrying a false ID, but that charge was dropped after a magistrate found his due process rights had been violated. He was held in custody while he appealed an order for deportation because he claimed he would be tortured or killed upon his return to Algeria as a military deserter. A United Nations [official website] human rights group which tracked Benatta's case has criticized [UN report, PDF] his continued 5-year detention as a "de facto prison sentence." AP has more.