[JURIST] A Sudanese aid worker formerly held at Guantanamo Bay [JURIST news archive] was among a group of ex-prisoners that demanded money and an apology from the US government Saturday for physical and mental torture they say they were subjected to at the prison. Adil Hassan Hamad, freed last December [JURIST report], told a conference in Khartoum that he and his colleagues would seek damages in US courts. The conference was held by local rights groups to demand the release of the seven Sudanese still imprisoned at Guantanamo.

One of the remaining seven Sudanese prisoners is Al Jazeera [media website] journalist Sami al-Haj [advocacy website], arrested [CPJ report] in Pakistan in 2001 while traveling as a cameraman for Al Jazeera. He has been detained at Guantanamo for over five years without charge. Reuters has more.

[JURIST] Jerome Kerviel, a former trader at the French bank Societe Generale [official website], turned himself in to French police Saturday in connection with an investigation of what caused the bank to lose more than $7 billion. Kerviel has been accused of carrying out a scheme which amounted to the largest bank fraud in history. Societe Generale, where Kerviel worked since 2000, said it discovered the plan on January 18. The bank stated that Kerviel acted alone and that his strategy involved betting billions of dollars of the bank's money on European stock index futures.

French officials have pressured Societe Generale to explain how Kerviel's actions did not draw the attention of his supervisors or the bank's internal officers. The bank's chief executive, Daniel Bouton, said in an interview [Le Figaro report, in French] "...when the control systems detected an anomaly, he managed to convince control officers that it was nothing more than a minor error.” The New York Times has more. Le Figaro has additional coverage, in French.

[JURIST] Afghan Ambassador to Canada Omar Samad [official profile] said Friday that his country still considers its agreement with Canada regarding the transfer of detainees to be in effect and is working closely with NATO forces to ensure the safety of prisoners in Afghan custody. The statement [press release] comes two days after reports surfaced that Canada had ceased turning over detainees to Afghan authorities [JURIST report; press release, PDF] in November amid concerns that prisoners were being abused in at least one Afghan detention center. Samad said that Afghanistan is currently investigating the allegations. He also said that earlier this month, Afghan President Hamid Karzai [official profile] issued a decree "reinforcing the prohibition on human rights violations" in Afghan prisons. Samad said that the Afghan government was only made aware of Canada's decision this week, and characterized it as "operational [in] nature." AP has more.

The British Columbia Civil Liberties Association [advocacy website] on Monday released internal Canadian government documents [JURIST report; full text, PDF] detailing evidence of continued mistreatment and abuse of detainees transferred by Canadian forces to Afghan authorities. The documents, originally distributed to senior officials of the Canadian government and officers of the Canadian military, detail an investigation conducted by Canadian officials last November which found circumstantial evidence that detainees were abused at a facility belonging to the Afghan National Directorate of Security in Kandahar.

[JURIST] Suspected Russian crime lord Semyon Y. Mogilevich has been arrested in Moscow on tax evasion charges, Russian officials said Friday. Mogilevich was arrested late Wednesday and a court approved his arrest on Thursday. Mogilevich is also wanted in the US [FBI profile] on unrelated charges for allegedly manipulating the stock of the billion dollar Pennsylvania corporation YBM Magnex International.

Mogilevich and two associates were indicted [press release, PDF] in 2003 on 45 counts of racketeering, securities fraud, wire fraud, mail fraud and money laundering charges. At the time charges were filed, US Attorney for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania Patrick Meehan said that the defendants inflated the value of YBM stock "so that they could profit at the public's expense. Books were cooked, auditors were deceived, bribes were offered to accountants. The defendants profited to the tune of more than $33 million, while the total loss to investors was more than $150 million." The US and Russia do not currently have an extradition treaty. AP has more. The New York Times has additional coverage.

[JURIST] Former UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan [official profile] expressed concern Saturday about "gross and systematic abuses of human rights" taking place in Kenya in the wake of last month's disputed presidential election [JURIST report]. Annan is in the country to help mediate the conflict between Kenyan President Mwai Kibaki [official profile] and opposition candidate Raila Odinga [campaign profile]. Annan acknowledged that the violence in the country initially stemmed from protests concerning Kibaki's re-election, but said that it had evolved into "something else." Annan also said, "We cannot accept that periodically, every five years or so, this sort of incident takes place and no-one is held to account. Impunity cannot be allowed to stand," adding that Kenyans should "respond with sympathy and understanding, and not try to revenge."

The controversial presidential vote has sparked simmering ethnic tensions in Kenya [JURIST news archive], where Kibaki has long been accused of using his position to favor members of the Kikuyu tribe. Fueling accusations of malfeasance, Kibaki won the December 27 election despite early opinion polls that placed rival candidate Odinga in the lead. Thousands of opposition supporters took to the streets following the election which prompted the government to temporarily ban public rallies and institute a curfew in Nairobi, the capital city. In all, over 700 people have been killed since protests began and thirteen nations, including several European Union members and the United States, have threatened to cut off aid to Kenya's government until the crisis is resolved and democracy is restored. Earlier this week, Odinga's opposition party, the Orange Democratic Movement [party website] filed a formal complaint [JURIST report] with the International Criminal Court [official website], alleging that Kibaki's administration has committed crimes against humanity while using force against demonstrators. The Kenyan National Commission on Human Rights (KNCHR) [official site] on Saturday launched an official investigation [KNCHR brief; Standard report] into the alleged human rights violations. BBC News has more. The Standard has local coverage.

[JURIST] The military government of Myanmar continues to arrest political dissidents [press release] despite assurances given by Prime Minister Thein Sein in November that the arrests had stopped and no more would take place, Amnesty International [advocacy website] reported Friday. There have been 96 arrests [Amnesty materials] since November and at least 700 of those arrested during September protests and 1,150 political prisoners held before the protests have yet to be released. In a statement [text] Catherine Baber, director of Amnesty's Asia-Pacific programme, said:

Four months on from the violent crackdown on peaceful demonstrators, rather than stop its unlawful arrests the Myanmar government has actually accelerated them. The new arrests in December and January target people who have attempted to send evidence of the crackdown to the international community, clearly showing that the government's chief priority is to silence its citizens who would hold them to account.

In view of the accelerating rate of arrests and other human rights violations four months on, the international community should press the government of Myanmar to immediately invite Prof. Pinheiro back to the country to conduct the full-fledged fact-finding mission he has requested.