Winfield is the latest soldier to be sentenced in the probe into 12 members of the 5th Stryker Brigade regarding the civilian deaths began in May 2010 [JURIST report]. In May, US army prosecutors charged Staff Sgt. David Bram [JURIST report] of Joint Base Lewis-McChord [official website] with solicitation to commit premeditated murder, failure to report crimes including murder, planting evidence near the body of an Afghan national, unlawfully engaging in murder scenario conversations with subordinates and aggravated assault with a dangerous weapon. Bram was court-martialed in November [JURIST report] for charges unrelated to the murders. He was accused of severely beating an Army private in his unit to keep the soldier from informing superiors about alleged drug abuse within the unit. The charges included conspiracy to commit assault and battery, unlawfully striking another soldier, violating a lawful order, dereliction of duty, cruelty, maltreatment and endeavoring to impede an investigation. Staff Sgt. Robert Stevens, another member of the brigade, pleaded guilty in December [JURIST report] to shooting two unarmed Afghan farmers following a plea agreement that will allow him to remain in the military after serving a nine month sentence and testifying against other soldiers accused of terrorizing civilians.

State lawmakers passed the hormone therapy ban when an inmate who had been receiving hormone therapy sued the DOC when it refused to pay [Journal Sentinel report] for a sex-change operation. That inmate is not a part of this suit. The three plaintiffs in the suit are male to female transsexuals who have been diagnosed with GID. US District Judge Charles Clevert issued an injunction last year enjoining DOC officials from stopping the treatment.

Katsav was initially indicted on rape charges [JURIST report] in 2009 for allegedly assaulting female employees in the 1990s. In 2008, Katsav rejected a plea agreement [JURIST report] that would have permitted him to plead guilty to lesser charges of indecent assault, sexual harassment and obstruction of justice in exchange for a suspended sentence and the dropping of rape charges. The plea deal had been criticized [JURIST report] by women's and civil rights activists, prompting five separate petitions to overturn the agreement.

The proposed law comes in response to recent civil unrest in Saudi Arabia and other Middle Eastern and North African nations, but this is not the first time Saudi Arabia has been criticized for rigid counterterrorism practices. Human Rights Watch (HRW) [advocacy website] reported [text, PDF] in 2009 that Saudi Arabia was illegally detaining thousands [press release] under the auspices of combating terrorism. The report echoed another AI report [text; JURIST report] which claimed that Saudi Arabian officials were allegedly using anti-terrorism measures as an excuse to secretly detain, imprison, torture and even kill thousands of people. In February 2009, the US Department of State released its 2008 Report on Human Rights Practices for Saudi Arabia [text; JURIST report], in which it identified several significant human rights issues, including denial of public trials and lack of due process in the judicial system, detention of political prisoners, incommunicado detention and lack of government transparency. Saudi Interior Minister Prince Nayef bin Abdul-Aziz [official website, in Arabic] announced in October 2008 that the kingdom had indicted 991 [Reuters report] suspected al Qaeda members. HRW sought access [HRW request] to the trials in an attempt to ensure compliance with international standards, but was denied.

In June, the US Department of Justice (DOJ) [official website] initiated a grand jury investigation [JURIST report] into the torture and death of a detainee at Abu Ghraib. Manadel Al-Jamadi was captured [JURIST report] by US Navy SEALs on November 4, 2003, and held in Abu Ghraib prison as a "ghost detainee," or unregistered prisoner, for his suspected involvement in the bombing of a Red Cross center in Baghdad that killed 12 people. Ninety minutes after entering Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) [official website] custody he was dead and his body was preserved in ice, allegedly to cover up the circumstances of his death. Al-Jamadi's death at the detention center was ruled a homicide [JURIST report] and the US military never revealed the exact circumstances, though reports show he died while suspended by his wrists, which were handcuffed behind his back. Federal prosecutor John Durham is leading [AP report] the torture and war crimes investigation.