[JURIST] Kenyan police Saturday confirmed that Ethiopian authorities have released eight suspected Kenyan terrorists, saying that the suspects have been reunited with their families. Kenyan authorities rendered the suspects to Somalia in early 2007, where they were handed over to the Ethiopian military and questioned by both US and Ethiopian intelligence. Kenyan officials will continue to monitor the released individuals, but declined to indicate whether they will face criminal charges. On Wednesday, Human Rights Watch (HRW) [advocacy website; JURIST news archive] called on the Ethiopian government [HRW materials; JURIST report] to release rendition victims or prosecute them in an open court that meets basic fair trial standards. Xinhua has more.

The governments of Kenya, Somalia and Ethiopia have all denied illegally transporting and jailing people, claiming they have only taken action against legitimate suspects. Human Rights Watch initially raised the east African rendition issue in March 2007 when it reported [JURIST report] that the US, Kenya, and Ethiopia were cooperating with the transitional government of Somalia to detain refugees from the recent conflict there. Canada, Sweden, and Eritrea subsequently pressured Ethiopia [JURIST news archive] to reveal additional details regarding foreign nationals allegedly held in secret prisons [JURIST report].

[JURIST] The US Department of Defense Friday announced the referral of nine terrorism-related charges [press release] against Guantanamo Bay detainee Ahmed Khalfan Ghailani [BBC profile], who is accused of involvement in the 1998 US embassy bombings in Kenya and Tanzania [US DOS Backgrounder]. Ghailani, who was transferred to detention facilities at Guantanamo from secret CIA detention in 2006, is charged with murder in violation of the laws of war, murder of protected persons, attacking civilians, attacking civilian objects, intentionally causing serious bodily injury, destruction of property in violation of the laws of war and terrorism, conspiracy to commit the above offenses, and providing material support to terrorism. Military prosecutors had sought the capital punishment for Ghailani, but Pentagon convening authority Susan Crawford decided that the case will be non-capital. Military prosecutors forwarded the charges [JURIST report] to the convening authority in March. The Washington Post has more.

Pakistani authorities arrested Ghailani [JURIST report] in July 2004. Ghailani was designated as an "enemy combatant" [press release; JURIST report] in August 2007 based on the recommendations of a Combatant Status Review Tribunal (CSRT) [DOD materials].