[JURIST] Pre-trial hearings for five men detained at Guantanamo Bay as 9/11 conspirators [JURIST news archives] proceeded on Monday despite the Pentagon's chief prosecutor's earlier request [JURIST report] that they be delayed. Army Colonel Stephen Henley [DOD biography, PDF], the presiding judge, questioned Khalid Sheikh Mohammed [BBC profile; JURIST news archive], Ali Abd al-Aziz Ali, Wallid bin Attash, Mustapha al-Hawsawi and Ramzi bin al-Shibh [JURIST news archives] regarding their requests to dismiss their appointed lawyers and plead guilty to murder charges. The men had previously asked to be able to enter guilty pleas, but postponed the offer [JURIST reports] after Henley ruled that competency hearings were required [CNN report] for al-Hawsawi and al-Shibh. Henley also heard arguments Monday from defense lawyers seeking to establish the procedural posture of the cases after Susan Crawford [official profile, PDF; JURIST news archive], the tribunal's convening authority, dismissed and re-filed [Reuters report] the charges against the men earlier this month. The defense argued that the renewal of the charges should require the tribunal to begin the trials anew. Henley rejected this argument, saying instead that it was a procedural move aimed at replacing potential jurors who had been reassigned, provided an affidavit from Crawford, outlining her intent, in support of the decision.

Henley was assigned to the Mohammed trial last month, following the retirement [JURIST reports] of Marine Col. Ralph Kohlmann [JURIST news archive]. The Pentagon approved death penalty charges against Mohammed and the four other suspects in May, and they were arraigned [JURIST reports] in June. In February, CIA Director Michael Hayden publicly acknowledged [JURIST report] that Mohammed had been subjected to waterboarding [JURIST news archive] during interrogation. Last week, Crawford said in an interview with the Washington Post that torture tactics were used [article text; JURIST report] in the interrogation of Mohammed al-Qahtani [JURIST news archive], a suspect held at Guantanamo under allegations of connections to the 9/11 attacks. Crawford made the statement after nearly two years of reviewing Guantanamo Bay practices as well as the strength of legal cases against detainees. US House Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers (D-MI) [official websites] published a report [text, PDF] last week urging Obama to open a criminal investigation [JURIST report] into the alleged abuses that have occurred at Guantanamo Bay throughout the Bush administration.

[JURIST] The International Court of Justice (ICJ) [official website] Monday ruled [PDF text; ICJ materials] that the United States violated the court's March 2004 order when the state of Texas executed José Ernesto Medellin Rojas [Amnesty International backgrounder] in August last year. The ICJ held in Avena and Other Mexican Nationals (Mexico v. United States of America) [ICJ materials] that the US had breached its obligations under the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations [PDF text] in denying 51 Mexican nationals, including Medellin, access to legal assistance from their consulate and that the US was obligated to "review and reconsider" the cases in light of this violation "by means of its choosing". Monday's decision [Reuters report] reaffirmed the "continuing binding character" of the previous order and declared that the US was in violation when it failed to review Medellin's case prior to his execution. By an 11-1 margin the court declined, however, to provide an interpretation of the order requested by Mexico in light of the Medellin's execution, saying

the matters claimed by the United Mexican States to be in issue between the Parties, requiring an interpretation under Article 60 of the Statute, are not matters which have been decided by the Court in its Judgment of 31 March 2004 in the case concerning Avena and Other Mexican Nationals (Mexico v. United States of America), including paragraph 153 (9), and thus cannot give rise to the interpretation requested by the United Mexican States...

[JURIST] The Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia (ECCC) [official website; JURIST news archive] announced [order, PDF] Monday that the trial of Khmer Rouge [BBC backgrounder] leader Kaing Guek-Eav [TrialWatch backgrounder; court materials], better known as "Duch", will begin February 17. Duch faces charges [scheduling order, PDF; JURIST report] of murder and torture in addition to charges [closing order, PDF; JURIST report] of crimes against humanity and violations of the Geneva Conventions.

Duch is best known for running the Tuol Sleng (S-21) prison camp [backgrounder] in Phnom Penh in the late 1970s after the Khmer Rouge took over. Out of an estimated 17,000 people imprisoned at Tuol Sleng, there are only twelve known survivors [advocacy website]. The ECCC plans to try as many as eight suspects [JURIST report] for their roles in the Khmer Rouge regime, which is generally held responsible for the genocide of an estimated 1.7 million Cambodians [PPU backgrounder] between 1975 and 1979. Earlier this month, Japan announced [JURIST report] that it would give an additional $21 million to the ECCC following an announcement by the court [JURIST report] that it plans to complete operations a year early because of limited funding. In February, a Cambodian genocide survivor testified [JURIST report] against Nuon Chea [PBS backgrounder] at a pretrial hearing, marking the first time a victim has taken the stand against a former Khmer Rouge official.