[JURIST] Australian Guantanamo Bay detainee David Hicks [JURIST news archive] was stripped of British citizenship just one day after he was secretly made a citizen in July, the Sydney Morning Herald reported Saturday. Hicks' court battle for British citizenship ended in May when the UK Court of Appeals said that it would not allow further appeals [JURIST report] from the British government in the case. A month earlier, the court ruled [text; JURIST report] that Hicks, whose mother is a British citizen, should be granted citizenship over the government's objections based on public policy concerns [JURIST report]. Hicks was informed on July 6 that his citizenship application had been approved, but a day later was told that UK Home Secretary John Reid [official profile] had revoked citizenship. A provision [text] of the Immigration, Asylum and Nationality Act 2006, which took effect [JURIST report] in March, allows the Home Secretary to "deprive a person of a citizenship status if the Secretary of State is satisfied that deprivation is conducive to the public good."

Hicks' British lawyer said that he was not advised of the developments until after Reid had already taken action and said that Hicks had not been afforded the opportunity to seek legal advice after learning about the decisions to grant and revoke citizenship. Hicks' legal team plans to appeal to the Special Immigrations Appeals Commission [HMCS backgrounder] and petition British courts for judicial review. Hicks has been held at Guantanamo since late 2001, when he was captured in Afghanistan - where he allegedly fought for the Taliban - and turned over to US forces. Accused [charges, PDF] of conspiracy to commit war crimes, aiding the enemy and attempted murder, he was one of ten Guantanamo detainees facing trial by military commissions [JURIST news archive] before the US Supreme Court ruled that the commissions were illegal under military law and the Geneva Conventions as initially constituted. Hicks' fate is still uncertain, but the Australian Attorney General said last week that Australia would seek Hicks' release from Guantanamo [JURIST report] if new charges are not brought and a military tribunal formed by November. The Sydney Morning Herald has more.

[JURIST] Federal prosecutors have reached a deferred-prosecution agreement with investment banker Frank Quattrone [NNDB profile] that would allow Quattrone to avoid a third trial on obstruction of justice and witness tampering charges [indictment, PDF], according to sources close to the negotiations. Quattrone, one of the dot-com era's most prominent investment bankers, is accused of forwarding emails to fellow employees at Credit Suisse [corporate website], encouraging them to "clean up" files and other evidence in the midst of an SEC investigation into whether the company was selling shares to preferential buyers during initial public offerings. Quattrone's first trial resulted in a mistrial [JURIST report] after the jury could not agree on a verdict, but Quattrone was later convicted [JURIST report] for sending a 22-word e-mail encouraging colleagues to destroy files. The conviction was overturned [JURIST report] by a federal appeals court in March on the grounds that the jury instructions were erroneous.

The agreement has yet to receive court approval, but is not expected to include an admission of guilt from Quattrone or limit his future business dealings. After an appeal [JURIST report] by Quattrone, the US Securities and Exchange Commission [official website] earlier this year reversed a lifetime ban [JURIST report] preventing Quattrone from working in the securities industry. Saturday's New York Times has more.

[JURIST] Saddam Hussein [JURIST news archive] could continue to be tried posthumously if he is found guilty and sentenced to death for crimes against humanity charges [JURIST report] stemming from a crackdown in the Iraqi town of Dujail, according to a US official. Hussein's second trial [JURIST report] is scheduled to begin Monday, but a verdict has not yet been returned in the first case. The Iraqi High Tribunal is set to deliver a verdict on the Dujail charges on October 16, and Hussein is eligible for the death penalty [JURIST report]. Should Hussein be sentenced to death or life in prison, he is entitled to an automatic appeal. If a death sentence is upheld on appeal, the sentence must be carried out within 30 days, and this could occur before Hussein's second trial is concluded.

In the new trial, Hussein and six co-defendants are charged with genocide and crimes against humanity [JURIST report] in connection to the so-called "Anfal" operation [HRW backgrounder] that led to the killings of as many as 100,000 Kurds in northern Iraq in the 1980s. Iraq President Jalal Talabani [BBC profile] has called for Hussein to be tried on all charges before any verdict is enforced. Talabani has previously expressed opposition to the death penalty, saying last year that he would refuse to sign a death warrant for Hussein [JURIST report]. AFP has more.

[JURIST] US officials will release Murat Kurnaz [AI case sheet; chronology, PDF], a Turkish national with ties to Germany, from Guantanamo Bay [JURIST news archive] sometime next week, according to reports in the German media Saturday. Kurnaz was born in Germany and was in the process of obtaining German citizenship when he was arrested in Pakistan in 2001. He has been held at the US detention center since his transfer there in 2002. He had German residency status at the time of his arrest, and German authorities said earlier this year they were negotiating for his release [JURIST report] from Guantanamo.

Last year, Kurnaz claimed [JURIST report] that he had been subjected to torture, physical abuse and sexual humiliation by US interrogators. German media report that Kurnaz could be released Tuesday, but the timing has not been confirmed by US or German officials. Reuters has more.

[JURIST] Lt. Col. Jeffrey R. Chessani, the US Marines commander in charge of the battalion implicated in the death of 24 civilians in Haditha [JURIST news archive] last November, did not order an immediate investigation into the deaths because he did not suspect any wrongdoing, according to a report in Saturday's Washington Post. The Post obtained a copy of the sworn statement Chessani made to military investigators, where Chessani said that he "did not see any cause for alarm" and that he believed at the time that killings followed a "complex attack" by insurgents involving a roadside bomb and an attempt to lure Marines to shoot into homes where civilians were located. Instead, it has been alleged that the civilians were murdered in cold blood [JURIST report], but Chessani said that when he first learned of allegations that the civilians were killed intentionally he thought that the claims were "baseless." Chessani could be charged with dereliction of duty, but there have been no charges filed in the case yet. Defense lawyers for others involved in the investigation say that charges could be brought next month.

In addition to the criminal inquiry being conducted by the Naval Criminal Investigation Service [official website], US Army Major General Eldon Bargewell [Wikipedia profile] led an investigation into decisions made by Marine leadership, including Chessani. Bargewell's report [JURIST report] has not yet been released, but officials briefed on the investigation said that there was evidence that soldiers concealed and destroyed evidence [JURIST report] relating to the incident and were reluctant to hand over evidence. The Washington Post has more.

[JURIST] US Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ) [official website] said Friday that Congress should write into law some of the remedies that US District Judge Gladys Kessler imposed on the tobacco industry [JURIST news archive] after finding that tobacco companies conspired to deceive the public about the dangers of smoking. Kessler ruled Thursday that the tobacco industry is liable for civil racketeering charges [JURIST report; DOJ case materials] filed against the industry by the US Department of Justice in 1999, and ordered tobacco companies [PDF text] to publish "corrective statements" concerning the dangers of smoking and affix those statements to cigarette packaging.

Philip Morris [corporate website] has announced plans to appeal the ruling [press release], and several other tobacco companies are also considering appeals. Lautenberg said that Congress should pass legislation incorporating the remedies imposed in case Kessler's ruling is overturned on appeal. Meanwhile, US Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-MA) [official website] and public health advocates are calling for the passage of legislation that would allow the Food and Drug Administration [official website] to regulate the tobacco industry. Opponents say that the industry is already subject to strict marketing restrictions and that additional federal oversight is unnecessary. AP has more.

[JURIST] US District Judge Reggie B. Walton on Friday denied the latest request by I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby [defense profile] to access classified information to prepare his defense on obstruction of justice and perjury charges [JURIST report] in connection to the leak of former CIA operative Valerie Plame's identity [JURIST news archive]. Walton has granted [JURIST report] Libby's defense team access to other classified documents, but in a ruling Friday said the "documents and information at issue are extremely sensitive and their disclosure could cause serious if not grave damage to the national security of the United States." Walton also said that the documents requested would not aid in the preparation of Libby's defense.

Libby has pleaded not guilty [JURIST report] to the charges [indictment, PDF]. Libby has requested a one-month delay [JURIST report] in the trial, and if granted, the trial will begin mid-February. AP has more.