In June, UNODC announced the opening of a new high-security courtroom in Kenya [JURIST report] that will hear maritime piracy cases as well as cases involving other serious criminal offenses. The courtroom was funded through contributions the UNODC received from donor states including Australia, Canada, Germany, France, the EU and the US. UNODC announced a week prior [JURIST report] that donor states will spend more than USD $9.3 million to fund courts in Kenya and Seychelles that prosecute suspected Somali pirates. The Kenyan government announced in April that it would no longer accept [JURIST report] Somali pirate cases due to its overburdened legal system and the lack of support that had been promised by the international community. Kenya resumed the adjudication of piracy cases in May after being reassured it would receive additional support. Kenya currently has 123 suspected pirates awaiting trial, the highest number of any country that has agreed to hear piracy cases. Kenyan courts have convicted and sentenced 18 pirates since agreeing to assist in the prosecution of piracy cases. The governments of Mauritania and Tanzania have also expressed their willingness to try suspected pirates [JURIST report].

Due process is part of judicial integrity. It's a basic principle that this country has decided to prioritize. It's one of our greatest exports—we send people all over the world to talk about rule of law and how to reform judicial systems but we're not doing it here in our fastest growing judicial system[, the immigration courts]. Not every non-citizen with a mental disability is entitled to remain in the United States; but everyone is entitled to a fair hearing and a chance to defend his or her rights. If the US government is going to detain and deport individuals with mental disabilities, it must do so in a way that respects their human rights, honors US human rights commitments, and ensures fair and accurate court decisions.

Last week, a Syracuse University research center study indicated that backlogs at US immigration courts are up by more than 30 percent [JURIST report] in the past 18 months. As of January 2009, there were an estimated 10.8 million illegal immigrants in the US, one million less than 2007, according to the Department of Homeland Security [official website]. In the same period, deportations have more than doubled, peaking at 387,790 last year. Federal authorities have indicated that the workload would continue to grow if Arizona's new immigration law [SB 1070 materials; JURIST news archive] is implemented. The Arizona law criminalizes illegal immigration and requires police officers to question an individual's immigration status if the officer has a "reasonable suspicion" to believe an individual is in the country illegally. The constitutionality of the law has been widely disputed, and the legislation is now facing several lawsuits [JURIST report]. Earlier this month, US President Barack Obama called for comprehensive immigration reform [JURIST report], noting the role of immigrants throughout US history and indicating that immigrants must continue to play a role as the country grows and develops.

The recent decisions bring the successful number of Guantanamo habeas petitions to 38, with the government winning 16. The district court on Wednesday granted the habeas petition [JURIST report] of another Yemeni detainee, Adnan Farhan Abdul Latif [NYT profile], ordering his immediate release from Guantanamo. In a separate decision announced Wednesday, a federal judge denied the habeas petition of Guantanamo detainee Abdul-Rahman Sulayman [NYT profile], ruling that he can continue to be held in custody indefinitely. Sulayman has also been in custody for over eight years. Most of the nearly 200 detainees remaining at Guantanamo are Yemeni, and many detainees have been transferred back to Yemen. In January, the US government suspended transfers [JURIST report] of Guantanamo detainees to Yemen after it was revealed that the so-called "Christmas Day Bomber" Umar Farouk Adbulmutallab [BBC profile; JURIST news archive], received al Qaeda training in Yemen.

In March, Bangladeshi officials announced the establishment of the tribunal, fulfilling a campaign promise of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina [BBC profile]. The tribunal includes three high court judges and six investigators retired from civilian, law enforcement and military careers. The trials investigating the 1971 war crimes will take place under the recently amended International Crimes (Tribunals) Act 1973 [text, PDF]. Officials estimate that Pakistani soldiers and local militia participated in more than three million killings and 200,000 rapes. The announcement of the tribunal came the same week as the Bangladesh Cabinet ratified the Rome Statute [JURIST report] of the International Criminal Court (ICC) [official website; JURIST news archive]. Although the ratification will not directly affect Bangladesh's pending war crimes trials for the 1971 Liberation War because the ICC can only hear cases arising since its formation in 2002, it will require the country to update its laws to reflect provisions of the statute.

Earlier this month, the US Army formally charged [JURIST report] Pfc. Bradley Manning [advocacy website] for leaking a controversial classified video [YouTube video] of a 2007 US helicopter strike in Iraq and classified State Department documents. Manning faces two charges [charge sheet, PDF] under the Uniform Code of Military Justice (UCMJ) [text] for the transfer of classified information and exceeding his authorized computer access. Manning was detained in Kuwait in May after releasing the video, entitled "Collateral Murder," on Wikileaks. Wikileaks does not ask sources to identify themselves, but Manning was reported to authorities by former hacker Andrian Lamo, who learned of the leaks after forming an online friendship with the soldier. Due to the gravity of the charges, Manning's investigation could lead to a court-martial. In May 2009, Human Rights Watch (HRW) [advocacy website] called on the US government to make "fundamental changes to reduce civilian casualties" [JURIST report] in Afghanistan after attacks last week reportedly left more than 140 civilians dead.

Kaing unexpectedly asked to be released [JURIST report] at the close of his trial in November. His request was a complete departure from his previous conduct, as he had cooperated with the trial and repeatedly apologized to his victims and their families. His lawyers took different approaches in their closing remarks, with one stating that his client was not guilty and the other asking for clemency. In March 2009, Kaing accepted responsibility and apologized [JURIST report] for his conduct at the detention facility. He is the first of eight ex-Khmer Rouge officials expected to be tried before the ECCC. In April, the pre-trial chamber of the ECCC dismissed appeals by three other former Khmer Rouge officials [JURIST report] to block the extension of their provisional detention. The three prisoners, Ieng Thirith, Ieng Sary and Khieu Samphan, were arrested in November 2007 and face charges of genocide, war crimes, crimes against humanity, murder, torture and religious persecution. The tre-trial chamber found in each case that "there is sufficient additional evidence in the case file to demonstrate that the case has progressed expeditiously" and that further detention while the investigation continues is reasonable given the "gravity and nature of the crimes" charged.

Last week, the US District Court for the District of Columbia [official website] allowed Khadr to amend his 2004 habeas corpus petition [JURIST report], but refused to lift the stay on the petition pending the conclusion of his trial before the military commission. Earlier this month, a US judge ordered Khadr's military attorney to continue defending him [JURIST report] after Khadr fired his civilian attorneys and requested that the military attorney be fired as well. At a pre-trial hearing at Guantanamo Bay, Khadr informed the US war crimes court that he had previously rejected a plea deal [JURIST report] offered by the US government to suspend all but five years of a 30-year prison sentence in exchange for a guilty plea. He stated that the plea would have been used to excuse the torture and abuse of a child. Khadr also indicated that he would not participate in the trial or offer a defense on his own behalf because the process offers him no hope of justice. Khadr is facing murder and terrorism charges [JURIST report] for allegedly throwing a grenade that killed a US soldier in Afghanistan.