[JURIST] A Bangladesh court on Sunday sentenced seven members of the banned Islamic Jamaat-ul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB) [SATP backgrounder] group to life in prison for their roles in two 2005 bombings in the country. The men, Torikul Islam, Shafiullah Tarek Kalam, Abu Isa, Hasan Ali Ekhwan, Jahangir Alam Abidur, Arif, and Sheikh Enamul Haq Moni, who was tried in absentia, were convicted [Daily Star report] under Bangladesh's Explosive Substances Act 1908 [text, PDF]. The men were also ordered to pay fines or face additional jail time. The attacks were part of a larger bombing campaign [JURIST report; BBC report] allegedly carried out by JMB in which more than 400 bombs were exploded and at least 26 were killed.

In January 2008, seven other suspects linked to JMB bombings were also sentenced to life in prison [JURIST report]. In 2007, six top JMB members were executed by hanging after the Bangladesh High Court in 2006 confirmed death sentences imposed by a trial court for the murder of two judges [JURIST reports] during the bombings. In 2006, three other JMB members were sentenced to death [JURIST report] and five others sentenced to life in prison for their involvement in the bombings.

[JURIST] Iftikhar Mohammed Chaudhry [JURIST news archive] on Sunday resumed his former position [press release] as chief justice of the Supreme Court of Pakistan [official website]. Chaudhry was removed from the post [JURIST report] by then-president Pervez Musharraf following Musharraf's November 2007 declaration of emergency law [JURIST report]. Chaudhry began his new term by establishing several judicial panels for the court, but did not attend an unofficial celebration [Dawn report] of his reinstatement at the supreme court building. Supporters at the celebration and at Chaudhry's home cheered his return, saying that it renewed hopes of having an independent judiciary in the country. Chaudhry replaces [JURIST report] Abdul Hameed Dogar as Pakistan's chief justice, and both UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay [press briefing; JURIST report] and members of the Pakistan lawyers' movement [JURIST report] have already praised his reinstatement.

Pakistan's President Asif Ali Zardari [BBC profile; JURIST news archive] last week announced that Chaudhry's reinstatement [JURIST report] was imminent and ordered government officials to release [Dawn report] anyone arrested during a second so-called "long march" [JURIST reports] held in part to call for Chaudhry's return. Former Pakistani prime minister Nawaz Sharif [BBC profile; JURIST news archive] and the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) [party website] had long actively campaigned [JURIST report] for Chaudhry's reinstatement, and Chaudhry maintained that he was still chief justice [JURIST report] under the Pakistani constitution [text] even after his ouster.

[JURIST] Lawyers for five Uighur [JURIST news archive] detainees at Guantanamo Bay [JURIST news archive] on Friday moved [motion, PDF; similar motion in related case] to have Defense Secretary Robert Gates [official profile; JURIST news archive] held in contempt after failing to have them freed or transferred. The motions refer to a June 2008 order [JURIST report] from the US Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit [official website] requiring that the Uighurs be transferred, released, or given a new Combatant Status Review Tribunal (CSRT). The motions state that Gates has conceded that the government will not convene a new CSRT and claims that the difficulty of finding a proper country for transfer is a problem of the government's making. Since there is no dispute that Gates is able to comply with the order, the motions argue, he should be held in contempt. The motions assert that deferring to Gates' status as an officer in the executive branch would render the judicial power "hollow."

US Attorney General Eric Holder told reporters Wednesday that the Department of Justice (DOJ) [official website] would consider accepting [JURIST report] in the US the 17 Uighur detainees who have been cleared for release. The DOJ has declined to repatriate the Uighurs despite Chinese demands [JURIST report] because they could face torture upon their return. On Monday, Holder and other top officials from the Obama administration met with leaders [JURIST report] from the European Union (EU) [official website] to discuss plans to transfer detainees from Guantanamo Bay. In February, Sweden's Migration Court granted asylum [judgment, PDF, in Swedish; JURIST report] to a former Uighur Guantanamo detainee. Munich, Germany, home to a sizeable Uighur community, has expressed willingness to welcome the 17 Uighurs [Local report]. In 2006, Albania granted asylum [JURIST report] to five Uighurs after their release from Guantanamo.

[JURIST] Authorities in North Korea have detained two American journalists who allegedly crossed into the country from China [JURIST news archives], official news agency KCNA [media website] confirmed Saturday. Laura Ling [professional website] and Euna Lee were reporting on North Korean refugees in China for Current TV [media website] when they allegedly crossed the border [Yonhap report] on Tuesday. US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton [official profile; JURIST news archive] is reportedly involved in talks [Chosun Ilbo report] regarding the reporters. Current TV called for the release of the reporters, and the website's co-founder and former US vice president Al Gore [JURIST news archive] reportedly asked Clinton to get involved [CNN report].

The incident comes at a sensitive time for international relations with North Korea, as the nation has refused to fully disclose [AP report] its past nuclear activity. The US removed North Korea [WP report] from the State Department's list of terror sponsors [text] in October after former president George W. Bush agreed [JURIST report] to the step following the communist state's handover of a report on its nuclear program to China, one of the countries participating in the so-called Six Party Talks [CFR backgrounder] on the North Korean program. In February 2007, North Korea agreed [JURIST report] to end its nuclear weapons program, shut down and seal any reactors, and completely declare the extent of its nuclear activities in exchange for 50,000 tons of heavy fuel. North Korea has ranked [JURIST report] among the countries with the least protection for press freedoms.