Georgetown Security Law Brief

Pakistan intelligence officials confirm death of key Haqqani militant commander

08/31/12: The Washington Times reports Pakistani intelligence officials confirmed Thursday that a US drone strike last week near the Afghan border killed the son of the founder of the powerful Haqqani militant network, a major blow to one of the most feared groups fighting American troops in Afghanistan.  Badruddin Haqqani, who has been described as the organization’s day-to-day operations commander, was killed August 24 in one of three strikes that hit militant hideouts in the Shawal Valley in Pakistan’s North Waziristan tribal area, said two senior intelligence officials.  The presence of the mostly Afghan Haqqani Network in North Waziristan has been a major source of friction between Pakistan and the US.  The Obama Administration repeatedly has demanded that Pakistan prevent the group from using its territory to launch attacks in Afghanistan, but Islamabad has refused.

IAEA report: Iran has doubled capacity at one nuclear facility, concealed work at another

08/31/12: Al Jazeera reports a new report from the International Atomic Energy Agency shows Iran has doubled the capacity of its Fordo nuclear facility in defiance of UN Security Council resolutions and sanctions.  The report, circulated to IAEA member states on Thursday but not published, showed that Iran now has around 2,000 uranium-enrichment centrifuges installed at Fordo, compared with around 1,000 in May.  The report also said the IAEA’s ability to inspect the Parchin military base where it suspects nuclear weapons research has taken place had been “significantly hampered” by a suspected clean-up.  Iran has maintained that its nuclear program is civilian and has denied it is trying to make a nuclear bomb; a claim virtually no one in the world believes at this point.

Three Georgia soldiers accused in murder and militia plot face to death penalty

08/31/12: The New York Times reports prosecutors will seek the death penalty against three soldiers in Georgia accused of killing a fellow soldier and his girlfriend and plotting terrorist attacks at their own military base.  District Attorney Tom Durden said Thursday that the suspects would face charges of malice murder, felony murder and criminal gang activity.  The soldiers, Private Isaac Aguigui, Sergeant Anthony Peden, and Private Christopher Salmon, have not entered pleas.  They are accused of killing a former soldier, Michael Roark, 19, and his girlfriend, Tiffany York, 17, on December 4.  Prosecutors say the soldiers were all members of a small anarchist militia called FEAR, (Forever Enduring Always Ready) that plotted the overthrow of Fort Stewart, home of the Army’s Third Infantry Division and the assassination of President Obama.

WikiLeaks suspect Manning's trial set to begin in February

08/31/12: NPR reports the trial of Bradley Manning, the US Army private accused of passing hundreds of thousands of classified documents to WikiLeaks, has been scheduled to begin in early February.  That news came on the last of three days of pretrial hearings held in Fort Meade, Maryland this week.  The twenty-two charges against Manning range from aiding the enemy to transmitting defense information, and fraud and related activity in connection with computers.  If convicted, he could face a life sentence.  Defense lawyers for Manning, who is being confined in Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, have argued for the full release of more than 1,300 emails that relate to the conditions of Manning’s confinement.  The judge in the case, Army Colonel Denise Lind, has said she will review those emails to determine whether they should be released.

Guantanamo detainee al Darbi charged with supporting terrorism

08/31/12: JURIST reports the Department of Defense announced Wednesday that the Chief Prosecutor for Military Commissions has filed terrorism charges against a Saudi prisoner at Guantánamo Bay accused of plotting with al-Qaeda to blow up oil tankers near Yemen.  Ahmed al Darbi has been accused of six offenses under the Military Commissions Act of 2009, including conspiracy, aiding and abetting attacks on civilians, aiding and abetting terrorism based on his former work as a weapons instructor, contact with Osama bin Laden, and support of bombing civilian oil tankers.  Al Darbi’s lawyer has yet to comment on the charges, though his client could face up to life in prison if convicted.  Al Darbi dodged similar charges in 2009 when the Obama Administration contemplated closing the detention facility.  Those proceedings were delayed several times before being dismissed.

US won't bring charges over CIA interrogation or detainee deaths

08/31/12: The Washington Times reports the Department of Justice announced Thursday it has ended its investigation into CIA interrogations of terrorist detainees without bringing criminal charges.  The decision in the probes of the deaths of two detainees marks the end of a wide-ranging criminal investigation by federal prosecutor John Durham into interrogation practices during the presidency of George W. Bush.  Durham has looked into the treatment of 101 detainees in US custody since the September 11, 2001 attacks.  In August 2009, Attorney General Eric Holder expanded Durham’s mandate to include a preliminary review of the CIA’s interrogation of specific detainees overseas.  In June 2011, Holder approved Durham’s request to move into a full criminal investigation of the two deaths.

Israel Air Force archives reveal US spy planes repeatedly violated Israeli airspace in 1950's

08/31/12: Haaretz reports new information published by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) revealed this week that American U-2 espionage planes repeatedly entered Israeli airspace in the 1950’s for a series of secret spy missions.  At the time, Israel’s defense establishment was baffled by the entrance of high-flying crafts, cruising at altitudes of about 70,000 feet, and code named “Jules Verne.”  Israeli officials reported each incident to the air force’s top brass, as well as to the IDF’s command.  According to documents released by the air force’s archives due to be published later this week, it was the USSR that aided Israeli officials in finally exposing the identity of the mystery planes after an American U-2 was shot down over Soviet soil.

Egypt's Morsi attacks "oppressive" Syrian regime at Tehran summit

08/31/12: BBC News reports Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi told a summit of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) Thursday that the Syrian uprising is a “revolution against an oppressive regime” and said NAM had an “ethical duty” to support the uprising.  His comments sparked a walkout by the Syrian delegation.  Syria’ss Foreign Minister Walid Muallem said Morsi’s speech “incites continued bloodshed in Syria.”  Morsi, making the first visit to Iran by an Egyptian President since 1979, said in his speech, “Our solidarity with the struggle of the Syrian people against an oppressive regime that has lost its legitimacy is an ethical duty, as it is a political and strategic necessity.”  The new Egyptian leader defied Washington by going to Tehran for the Non-Aligned summit.  Now he has angered the Iranian government by criticizing their allies in Damascus.

12 Mexican police in custody over US embassy vehicle shooting

08/29/12: The Washington Post reports twelve Mexican federal police have been taken into custody for their involvement in the shooting of two US Government workers who were wounded last week on their way to a Mexican Navy training camp.  The Attorney General announced Monday that the officers have not been formally charged, but may be held for forty days for questioning about possible crimes that include attempted murder, aggravated assault, damage to property, and abuse of authority.  A pair of US government employees, traveling in an armored US Embassy sport-utility vehicle with diplomatic license plates, were pursued in a high-speed chase and shot at by Mexican federal police officers in the mountains south of Mexico City on Friday morning.

Lawyers in Manning WikiLeaks case argue over e-mails on conditions of confinement

08/29/12: The Miami Herald reports lawyers for Private First-class Bradley Manning said Tuesday that military prosecutors have withheld hundreds of emails related to his pretrial detention at a Marine Corps brig.  Manning’s lawyer David Coombs argued at a pretrial hearing that prosecutors have yet to turn over about 700 emails in their possession, but he said the emails he’s aware of paint a portrait of a military more concerned with combating negative publicity than with Manning’s welfare and reveal that high-level officials, including a three-star general, were briefed about the conditions of his confinement.  Manning, 24, is accused of providing to WikiLeaks hundreds of thousands of diplomatic cables and Iraq and Afghanistan war logs while working as an intelligence analyst in Baghdad in 2009 and 2010. He faces a possible life sentence.

Armed Forces Court of Appeals refuses to rule on forced shaving

08/29/12: The New York Times reports the nation’s highest military court ruled on Monday that it was premature for them to decide whether Major Nidal Hasan, the Army psychiatrist accused in a shooting rampage at an Army base in Texas in 2009, can have his beard forcibly shaved before the start of his trial.  Hasan says he began growing a beard because of his Muslim faith, but the judge overseeing pretrial hearings at Fort Hood ruled Hasan was disrupting the proceedings and violating Army regulations, and that he would be forcibly shaved if he did not do so voluntarily.  His lawyers appealed, but on Monday the US Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces said that since there wasn’t any definitive order for a forcible shaving yet, it was too early for them to decide.

Palestinians put UN recognition bid on hold

08/29/12: Haaretz reports Palestine is putting its quest for international recognition at the UN on hold for now. Foreign Minister Riad Malki says President Mahmoud Abbas has decided not to apply at the General Assembly session next month, although he will informally appeal for recognition in a speech. The decision stands in contrast to last year, when the Palestinians asked the Security Council to admit them as a full member state. That bid failed in the Council. Since then, they have said they will apply to the General Assembly for lesser “nonmember state” status. Analysts expect the Palestinians to resume their campaign after the US presidential election.

IAEA establishes new "Iran Task Force," practical effects unclear

08/29/12: The Miami Herald reports the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has created a special Iran Task Force of nuclear weapons experts, intelligence analysts, and other specialists focused on investigating allegations that Tehran has been secretly working on developing atomic arms.  The IAEA’s Wednesday announcement says the unit will concentrate on implementing IAEA agreements with Iran and allowing it to monitor Tehran’s nuclear activities as mandated by the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty.  It also says it will focus on “relevant” IAEA and UN Security Council resolutions on Iran.  Both have demanded that Tehran stop activities that could be used to make nuclear weapons and cooperate with the agency’s investigation of suspicions Tehran worked on nuclear weapons.  Still, the new task force will have no more power to inspect Iran’s known or suspected nuclear sites than previously.

Americans shot in embassy vehicle in Mexico were CIA operatives

08/29/12: The New York Times reports officials said on Tuesday that the two Americans who were wounded when gunmen fired on their American Embassy vehicle in Mexico last week were Central Intelligence Agency employees sent as part of a multiagency effort to bolster Mexican efforts to fight drug traffickers.  The two operatives, who were hurt on Friday, were participating in a training program that involved the Mexican Navy.  They were traveling with a Mexican Navy captain in an embassy sport utility vehicle that had diplomatic license plates when gunmen, some or all of them from the Federal Police, attacked the vehicle.  It is currently unclear whether the Americans, who officials said were unarmed, were specifically targeted, if the shooting was a case of mistaken identity, or there was some other reason for the ambush.

India Supreme Court upholds death sentence for Mumbai gunman

08/29/12: CNN reports the Indian Supreme Court on Wednesday upheld the death sentence for Mohammed Ajmal Kasab, the only surviving gunman from the 2008 terrorist attacks in Mumbai.  Kasab, a Pakistani, was sentenced to death in 2010 on charges of murder, conspiracy, and waging war on India.  The High Court of Mumbai upheld his conviction and sentence in February last year.  Now the Supreme Court has done the same, rejecting his argument that he hadn't received a fair trial.  “The court has had a chance to appreciate the evidence completely,” prosecutor Gopal Subramaniam said after the verdict.  He noted that Kasab had been provided with state-appointed lawyers for his different court hearings.  In November 2008, ten heavily armed men attacked landmarks around Mumbai.  More than 160 people were killed in the three-day coordinated attacks.

Somalia army retakes port from al-Shabab

08/29/12: BBC News reports pro-government forces in Somalia say they have taken control of the port of Merca from al-Shabab militants.  The port is some forty-five miles south of Mogadishu, which the Islamists were forced to leave last year.  “There was some fighting, but not so heavy,” said a spokesman for the African Union mission in Somalia, adding that most al-Shabab fighters had already left the port.  Merca is the third-largest port in southern Somalia, and the African Union says its seizure will help in the operation to take Kismayo, the biggest town still in al-Shabab’s hands.  Although pro-government forces have gained much territory recently, al-Shabab, which has joined al-Qaeda, still controls many southern and central areas of the country.

After 2011 spike, US arms sales now make up most of global market

08/27/12: The New York Times reports weapons sales by the United States tripled in 2011 to a record high, driven by major arms sales to Persian Gulf allies concerned about Iran’s regional ambitions.  A report prepared by the Congressional Research Service said overseas weapons sales by the United States totaled $66.3 billion last year, or more than three-quarters of the global arms market, valued at $85.3 billion in 2011.  Russia was a distant second, with $4.8 billion in deals.  The American weapons sales total was an “extraordinary increase” over the $21.4 billion in deals for 2010, the study found, and was the largest single-year sales total in the history of United States arms exports.  The previous high was in fiscal year 2009, when American weapons sales overseas totaled nearly $31 billion.

Saudi Arabia says it foiled al-Qaeda-linked terror plot

08/27/12: Al Jazeera reports Saudi authorities have announced they have foiled a terrorist plot by elements suspected of links to al-Qaeda, mostly Yemenis, and broken two extremist cells in Riyadh and Jeddah.  The interior ministry said in a statement on Sunday the suspects were “in contact with [al-Qaeda] abroad” and working on “recruiting elements to execute criminal attacks targeting security forces, citizens and foreign residents, as well as public installations.”  Two Saudis and six Yemenis were arrested while two nationals are wanted for questioning.  “Investigations revealed that those elements were at an advanced stage... including preparing explosives and testing them outside Riyadh,” the ministry said, adding that one suspect accidentally lost a finger during the tests.

Arizona lawmakers want border fence started now despite inadequate funds

08/27/12: The Miami Herald reports members of the Arizona Legislature’s border security advisory committee want the state to begin building a mile of fencing along the border with Mexico even though it has raised only a fraction of the needed money.  The committee has raised just 10 percent of the $2.8 million needed to complete a mile of fencing, but State Senator Steve Smith (R-Maricopa) believes more private donations will come in once construction begins.  Construction could begin by the end of the year using private fencing companies, some donated supplies and prison inmate labor, Smith said.  The project is meant to complement the Federal Government’s border fencing program.  The committee is charged with making security recommendations, but none have been made since it began meeting in March 2011.

"American Taliban" Lindh sues for right to pray in prison

08/27/12: NPR reports John Walker Lindh, the American captured fighting alongside the Taliban immediately after September 11, is suing the Federal Bureau of Prisons over issues of religious freedom.  The devout Muslim wants to be able to pray together with his fellow inmates every day from his prison in Terre Haute, Indiana.  “They can sit around and talk about politics or football or whatever philosophy,” says Ken Falk, a lawyer at the American Civil Liberties Union who's representing Lindh.  “The one thing they’re not allowed to do is pray together for their daily prayers, which many Muslims believe is required or at least strongly preferred.”  The Bureau of has argued in court papers that allowing inmates to pray together every day could pose a security threat or cause anti-Muslim violence by other prisoners.

Three Israeli settler youths arrested for firebombing of Palestinian taxi

08/27/12: The Washington Post reports three Israeli adolescents from a West Bank settlement were arrested Sunday in connection with a recent firebombing of a Palestinian taxi, adding fuel to a debate in Israel about ethnic prejudice among youths.  The suspects, all age 12 or 13, were to appear before a Jerusalem court Sunday evening.  The taxicab attack, which injured six Palestinians, took place hours before several Palestinian youths were beaten by a mob in a quasi-lynching in central Jerusalem.  Israel has denounced both incidents as terrorist attacks.  The youths arrested Sunday are all from the small settlement of Bat Ayin, which sits atop a hill not far from the road where the firebombing took place on August 16.  Yair Goldsmith, the head of the Bat Ayin local committee, declined to comment Sunday.

Nigeria confirms informal Boko Haram talks

08/27/12: BBC News reports the Nigerian government says it has started informal talks with Boko Haram to try to end deadly attacks by the Islamic terrorist group.  A spokesman said the dialogue was through “backroom channels” without elaborating further.  Boko Haram, which wants to create an Islamic state, is accused of killing hundreds of people and targeting churches and other targets.  “The form of the dialogue is that backroom channels are being used to reach across with the sole objective of understanding what exactly the grievances of these persons are, what exactly can be done to resolve the crises,” Nigerian presidential spokesman Reuben Abati said.  He said this was being done “in the overall best interest of ensuring peace and stability in Nigeria and the security of life and property.”

Cairo court convicts 76 for attack on Israeli embassy

08/27/12: The Miami Herald reports a court in Cairo has convicted seventy-six Egyptians on charges linked to last year’s attack on the Israeli Embassy.  Seventy-five of the defendants received suspended one-year sentences Sunday, while one defendant tried in absentia was given a five-year prison term.  The charges included “an assault against diplomatic missions” and “sabotage.”  In September, thousands of protesters tore down a security wall around a high rise building housing the Israeli Embassy in Cairo and then trashed its offices.  The embassy’s storming followed the killing of six Egyptian soldiers by Israeli troops who were pursuing Palestinian militants near the Egyptian border.  The attack prompted nearly the entire embassy staff to evacuate and was one of the worst crises to hit the two countries’ relations since their 1979 peace treaty.

Mexico investigating why federal police fired on US Embassy car

08/26/12: The Miami Herald reports Mexican authorities are trying to sort out why a US Embassy vehicle was ambushed by federal police on a rural back road in mountains south of the capital, leaving two US officials wounded.  Officials from both nations said officers were chasing criminals Friday morning when a hail of bullets was fired at the embassy sport utility vehicle carrying the two employees and a Mexican Navy captain.  Mexico’s top police official, Public Security Secretary Genaro García Luna, went to the site of the shooting, indicating the sensitivity and tension over a situation that involved an attack not only on US officials, but on Mexican Navy personnel as well.  A Mexican official said twelve police officers have been detained.

Hamas: Egypt to reopen Sinai crossing into Gaza

08/26/12: The New York Times reports Hamas officials say Egypt will fully reopen the Rafah crossing into the Sinai Peninsula on Sunday for the first time since the August 5 border attack that killed sixteen Egyptian soldiers, signaling a possible thaw in relations that had been chilly since the killings.  Though Hamas, which rules the Gaza Strip, and the Muslim Brotherhood, which backs Egypt’s new president, Mohamed Morsi, share an ideology and political roots, the increasing closeness between the two governments had been interrupted by the attack.  Some in Egypt suggested that extremist groups in Gaza had supported the attackers, and Morsi not only shut down Rafah but also began destroying the hundreds of underground tunnels that supply the Gaza Strip with all manner of goods and Hamas with significant tax revenue.

Egypt seeks release of Gitmo detainee

08/26/12: The Miami Herald reports Egypt has asked the United States to release its last national held at the at the US Navy base in Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, where he has been held since 2002.  The Egyptian Foreign Ministry statement Thursday says Cairo has sent a letter to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton requesting the release of Tarek al-Sawah.  Egypt made the request on the grounds that Sawah has been held for eleven years without charges or trial.  The Pentagon’s Military Commissions prosecutor has dropped charges against him of supporting terrorist groups in Afghanistan.  Leaked documents say Sawah is 54, was born in Alexandria, Egypt, and is a citizen of both Egypt and Bosnia and Herzegovina.  His September 2008 risk assessment, leaked by WikiLeaks, recommended his release from Guantánamo Bay.

Syrian government forces accused of massacring over 300 near Damascus

08/26/12: Al-Jazeera reports several hundred bodies have been found in a town near Damascus after a ferocious assault by the Syrian army as activists accused President Bashar al-Assad’s forces of a gruesome “massacre.”  A grisly video (as yet unauthenticated) issued by the opposition showed bodies piled up wall-to-wall in a mosque complex in Daraya after a massive offensive by government troops battling to crush insurgents who have regrouped in the outskirts of the capital.  At least 320 corpses were found on Saturday and Sunday, the victims of a five-day onslaught by the army on rebel fighters in Daraya, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.  The Local Coordination Committees, a network of activists on the ground in Syria, said people in Daraya had been summarily executed and their bodies burned.

Japan says islands dispute with South Korea is over "illegal occupation"

08/26/12: JURIST reports Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda on Friday signed a resolution describing South Korea’s control of islands in the Sea of Japan as an “illegal occupation.”  The resolution also calls for South Korean President Lee Myung-Bak to apologize and renounce comments he made during an August 15 surprise visit to the disputed territory.  The comments included a request for Japan’s Emperor Akihito to apologize for the nation's occupation of the Korean Peninsula during World War II.  The disputed islands, known as Takeshima in Japan and Dokdo in South Korea, are believed to contain valuable natural gas deposits.  Noda has threatened to refuse to meet with Lee at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in Vladivostok set for September.

Russia to request US extradition of convicted arms dealer

08/25/12: JURIST reports the Russian Justice Ministry announced Thursday that it has filed a formal request with the US government for a copy of the verdict of reputed Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout, who in April was sentenced by the US District Court for the Southern District of New York to twenty-five years in prison.  The request serves as an overture for a larger request that Washington extradite Bout to Russia to serve out his sentence.  Bout, 45, was convicted in November on four counts of conspiracy relating to his proposed sale of anti-aircraft missiles to drug enforcement informants posing as potential buyers for the guerrilla Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) which the US has designated a foreign terrorist organization.  The US can refuse the request since Bout’s appeal is still pending.

Special ops chief McRaven tells troops to keep quiet about sensitive information

08/25/12: The Associated Press (via Yahoo! News) reports US Special Operations chief Admiral Bill McRaven on Thursday warned his troops, current and former, that he would take legal action against anyone found to have exposed sensitive information that could cause fellow forces harm.  “We will pursue every option available to hold members accountable, including criminal prosecution where appropriate,” the four-star commander wrote in an open, unclassified letter emailed to the active-duty special operations community.  The warning came a day after a retired Navy commando revealed he is publishing a first-hand account of the raid that killed Osama bin Laden.  Pentagon officials say they have not been given a chance to review the book, but Pentagon spokesman George Little said Friday officials expect to receive a copy “very shortly.”

OAS passes compromise resolution on diplomatic missions and Assange

08/25/12: BBC News reports the Organization of American States has passed a motion backing the “inviolability of diplomatic missions” amid the row between the UK and Ecuador over WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange.  Assange is in Ecuador’s London embassy fighting extradition to Sweden over unrelated sexual assault claims.  Ecuador called for the OAS vote saying the UK had threatened to storm the embassy.  But the resolution was reworded after the UK insisted it had made no threat.  The resolution expressed solidarity with Ecuador, but despite a strong plea from Ecuadorian foreign minister Ricardo Patino, there was no reference to any threat against his country’s embassy in London.  The United States withdrew its opposition to the resolution after the text was amended.

IAEA says Iran covering up suspected nuclear site

08/25/12: The Miami Herald reports diplomats said Friday that Iran has shrouded a building that the UN nuclear agency suspects was used for secret work on atomic weapons, meaning spy satellites can no longer monitor Tehran’s alleged efforts to clean up the site.  For months, satellite images have recorded what the International Atomic Energy Agency suspects is an attempt to sanitize the site.  At the same time, Iran has repeatedly rebuffed agency efforts for access and did so again Friday.  Talks between the two sides ended without an agreement that would have allowed IAEA experts to visit the site at the Parchin military complex southeast of Tehran.  The diplomats said the main building is now covered with what appears to be plastic sheeting.

Second Circuit upholds life sentence for convicted al-Qaeda terrorist who stabbed prison guard

08/25/12: JURIST reports the US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit on Friday upheld the life sentence imposed on a former Osama bin Laden aide after he stabbed a prison guard in the eye in 2000.  Mamdouh Mahmud Salim, 54, is a Sudanese-born Iraqi who at the time of the stabbing was awaiting trial for an al-Qaeda-linked conspiracy that included the 1998 attacks on US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania.  In 2002 Salim pleaded guilty to attempted murder of and conspiracy to murder a federal official after he stabbed Louis Pepe, a guard at the federal jail in lower Manhattan, with a plastic comb in November 2000.  Salim argued that his right to be present at the sentencing hearing was violated; the court held any error harmless.

North Korean GPS-jamming shows vulnerability of system

08/24/12: The Washington Times reports US and South Korean military commanders will be on the lookout for North Korean efforts to jam GPS signals as they take part in exercises on the divided peninsula this week and next.  North Korea repeatedly has jammed GPS signals in South Korea, which has “very serious implications” because the US and South Korean military system rely heavily on the navigation system.  The jamming also underscores the vulnerability of a satellite-based tool on which civilian systems from car navigation to air traffic control rely upon.  North Koreans have used Russian-made, truck-mounted jamming gear near the border to disrupt low-power GPS signals in large swaths of South Korea.  By broadcasting powerful radio signals on the same frequencies as the satellites, the jammers drown out the GPS signals.

Turkey examining possible Iran link in bombing

08/24/12: The Miami Herald reports Turkey has said it is investigating whether another country, possibly Iran, was involved in an explosion that killed nine people near Syria earlier this week.  The announcement reflects concern about spillover from the war in Syria as well as increasing tension with Tehran, a regional power that supports Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.  Turkey backs the Syrian opposition in its war with Assad, and relations between Ankara and Damascus have deteriorated sharply since the conflict began in March 2011.  Turkey and Iran have expanded trade in past years, but sharp differences over Syria as well as Turkey’s decision to host a NATO radar that would send a warning if Iran fires missiles have led to increasingly tense rhetoric on both sides.

Egypt's Morsi frees journalist, for now

08/24/12: The New York Times reports Egypt’s president wielded his extensive legislative powers for the first time Thursday, outlawing the pretrial detention of people accused of press crimes.  Mohamed Morsi’s move temporarily freed one of toughest critics, a newspaper editor who was detained just hours before the law was passed.  The editor, Islam Afifi, faces charges that include insulting the president and disturbing the public order for articles and editorials that appeared in his newspaper, Al Dustour.  He was released from custody on Thursday night but still faces a trial date in September.  The charges have angered journalists and human rights activists, who accused Morsi of muffling dissent using methods reminiscent of Egypt’s authoritarian past.  This month, government security agents confiscated copies of Afifi’s newspaper.

Court rules Norway mass killer Breivik is sane, likely to be imprisoned for life

08/24/12: Al Jazeera reports a Norwegian court has found that Anders Behring Breivik is sane and criminally responsible for the murder of seventy-seven people in a terrorist attack last year, sending him to jail for at least twenty-one years and dismissing the prosecution’s request for an insanity verdict.  Breivik, who was sentenced on Friday, has admitted detonating a fertilizer bomb outside government headquarters, killing eight, before shooting sixty-nine at the ruling party’s summer youth camp.  The sentence is likely to be extended, probably for the rest of his life.  Breivik said he targeted the ruling centre-left Labour Party for its support of Muslim immigration.  He dismissed being called a child murderer, arguing that his victims, some as young as fourteen, were brainwashed activists whose support for multiculturalism threatened to adulterate pure Norwegian blood.

US District Court hears renewed arguments on Arizona immigration law

08/24/12: CNN reports a federal court is once again weighing arguments over the so-called “show me your papers” provision in Arizona’s controversial immigration law.  The provision was the major portion of the law upheld (for now) by the US Supreme Court in June.  But opponents argued in the US District Court for the District of Arizona on Tuesday that new evidence shows that a federal judge should block enforcement of the provision, which allows local law enforcement, when performing other state law enforcement functions, to check on the immigration status of those people they stop for another reason.  The Supreme Court upheld that part because it complements existing federal policy, but was careful to say that depending on how it is implemented, it could also be overturned one day.

Immigration agents sue to stop new Obama policy

08/24/12: The Washington Times reports ten US immigration agents on Thursday sued the Obama Administration to try to overturn the President’s new policy suspending deportation of young illegal immigrants.  The lawsuit, filed in federal court in Texas, adds a legal controversy to the political fight that has been brewing over President Obama’s immigration policies, which have steadily narrowed the range of immigrants whom the government is targeting for deportation.  The ten Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents and deportation officers said Obama’s policies force them to choose between enforcing the law and being reprimanded by superiors, or listening to superiors and violating their own oaths of office and a 1996 law that requires them to put those who entered the country illegally into deportation proceedings.

UN chief to attend summit in Iran despite criticism

08/24/12: The Miami Herald reports UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon will attend the summit of the Nonaligned Movement of mainly developing countries in Tehran next week despite strong opposition from Israel and Jewish groups outraged at Iran’s calls for the destruction of Israel.  The UN announced Wednesday that Ban will participate in the August 29-31 summit because he is determined to carry out his responsibilities to the 120-member organization and to raise directly with Iran’s leaders their repeated threats to Israel’s existence, which violate the UN Charter’s requirement that member states refrain from threatening other states.  Ban also plans to convey the international community’s expectations that Iran make urgent progress on issues including the country’s controversial nuclear program, terrorism, human rights and the crisis in Syria, a spokesman said.

Libya says Gadhafi's son will be tried in September, refuses ICC extradition

08/23/12: The Miami Herald reports Libya announced Monday that it will put deposed dictator Moammar Gadhafi’s son on trial, defying a demand by the International Criminal Court.  Libyan official Ahmed al-Jehani said the trial of Seif al-Islam Gadhafi will begin next month.  Seif al-Islam was considered his father’s political heir.  He was captured last year by a militia from the western mountain town of Zintan, where he has been held ever since.  The ICC issued an arrest warrant and demanded to try him on war crimes; Libya has argued that its new regime should try him.  The ICC has expressed concern that Libya is not set up to give the younger Gadhafi a fair trial.  During his four decades of rule, Moammar Gadhafi dismantled most institutions, setting himself up as the sole ruler.

ICC affirms jurisdiction to try former Ivory Coast president

08/23/12: JURIST reports the International Criminal Court (ICC) on Monday dismissed a challenge by former Ivory Coast president and accused war criminal Laurent Gbagbo that the court lacks jurisdiction to try him. Gbagbo is being charged with crimes against humanity relating to violence following the 2010 elections in which Gbagbo lost but refused to cede power. Gbagbo is charged with murder, rape, persecution, and “other inhumane acts” related to post-election violence. Gbagbo argued the ICC does not have jurisdiction to adjudicate his case because he was mistreated while being detained in Ivory Coast for several months. The ICC overruled Gbagbo’s jurisdictional objection and held that it has the authority to hear his case. Gbagbo was extradited to the ICC in November.

IAEA head not optimistic on Iran talks

08/23/12: Haaretz reports the head of the UN nuclear watchdog agency said Wednesday he was not confident there would be a breakthrough with Iran over the Islamic Republic’s nuclear activities when talks resume later this week.  The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) meets Iranian officials on Friday, more than two months after previous talks ended in failure, and is expected to seek to persuade Iran to address questions about its suspected nuclear weapons research.  “The reason I cannot be too optimistic is... we have been making our best efforts in a constructive spirit to work out an agreement between Iran and IAEA, but so far we have not been successful,” IAEA Director-General Yukiya Amano told reporters.  “I have no indication this will change very soon.”

Egypt's Morsi to visit US next month

08/23/12: The Miami Herald reports Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi will visit the United States next month.  The visit, announced by a Morsi aide Wednesday, could serve as a step toward cementing Egypt’s longtime alliance with the US.  It will be the Islamist Morsi’s first trip to the US since taking office June 30 but not his first American experience, as he received a doctorate in engineering from the University of Southern California in 1982.  Morsi’s Muslim Brotherhood has been trying to counter concerns in Washington, sending delegations to the US to argue that it is now a moderate Islamist group with no anti-American agenda.  The US recently pledged additional aid to Egypt, a gesture toward maintaining close ties.

Iraqi national in Kentucky pleads guilty to attempting to aid al-Qaeda

08/23/12: The blog War on Terrorism reports an Iraqi citizen pled guilty to federal terrorism charges Wednesday in the US District Court for the Western District of Kentucky.  Mohanad Shareef Hammadi, 24, pleaded guilty to all charges in a twelve-count indictment.  He was charged with five counts of attempting to provide material support to terrorists and four counts of attempting to provide material support to al-Qaeda in Iraq, a designated foreign terrorist organization.  He also faced one count of conspiracy to transfer, possess, and export Stinger missiles and with two counts of making false statements in immigration matters.  He now faces a maximum sentence of life in prison under the sentencing guidelines and a mandatory minimum of twenty-five years.

US seizes cash tied to Hezbollah

08/22/12: The Washington Times reports federal authorities Monday seized $150 million in connection with a civil money laundering and forfeiture complaint charging that a massive, international scheme in which entities linked to Hezbollah, including the now-defunct Lebanese Canadian Bank (LCB), used the US financial system to launder narcotics trafficking and other criminal proceeds through West Africa and back into Lebanon.  Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) Administrator Michele M. Leonhart and US Attorney Preet Bharara in New York said that from January 2007 to early 2011, at least $329 million was transferred by wire from LCB and other financial institutions to the United States for the purchase of used cars that were then shipped to West Africa.  Cash from the sale of the cars and proceeds from narcotics trafficking went to Lebanon through Hezbollah-controlled money laundering channels.

Eleventh Circuit strikes down provisions of Georgia, Alabama immigration laws

08/22/12: JURIST reports the US Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit struck down several provisions of Alabama’s controversial immigration law on Monday while upholding some others.  The court blocked four sections of the law, including provisions requiring public schools to check students’ immigration status and making it a crime for illegal immigrants to solicit work.  In another decision, the Court also invalidated part of Georgia’s immigration law.  The court also held that a portion of Georgia’s immigration law known as Section 7, which makes it a crime for anyone to harbor an illegal immigrant or help one remain in the US, was preempted by federal law.  The three separate cases are captioned United States v. Alabama, Hispanic Interest Coalition of Alabama v. Bentley, and Georgia Latino Alliance for Human Rights v. Deal; the opinions in all the cases are authored by Circuit Judge Charles Wilson.

Mexico Supreme Court holds military trial for soldiers' killing of civilian unconstitutional

08/22/12: BBC News reports Mexico’s Supreme Court has ruled that a law giving military tribunals jurisdiction to try soldiers for crimes against civilians is unconstitutional.  The judges said the code wrongly extended the reach of military courts.  Campaigners hailed the court’s decision but four similar judgments are needed to set a legal precedent.  The Court was considering the case of Bonfilio Rubio Villegas, who was shot dead by soldiers at a checkpoint in Guerrero state in 2009.  In an 8-2 ruling, the judges held that the suspects must be tried in a civilian court.  “When a person outside the military is either the defendant or the victim, an ordinary judge has authority over this case, not a military judge,” Justice Luis María Aguilar wrote.

Ecuador invites UK Assange talks on condition they agree not to enter embassy

08/22/12: Al Jazeera reports Ecuador’s president has invited the UK to talks over the fate of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange on the condition that Britain guarantee it will not enter the diplomatic mission in London where the hacker has sought shelter.  Assange, who is wanted by Sweden for questioning over sexual-assault accusations, jumped bail and fled to the Ecuadorian embassy nine weeks ago.  “Despite that rude, impertinent and unacceptable remark, we’re still open to dialogue,” President Rafael Correa said on Tuesday, referring to a statement issued by British Foreign Secretary William Hague last week.  Assange made an appearance on a balcony of the embassy, in London’s Knightsbridge District, on Tuesday and called on the US to end its alleged “witch-hunt” against him.

Egyptian official says Sinai operations were coordinated with Israel

08/22/12: Haaretz reports an Egyptian military source said Wednesday that the recent deployment of troops in the Sinai Peninsula was fully coordinated with Israel, refuting media reports that the move violated the Israel-Egypt peace treaty.  Reports quoted a member of Egypt’s Higher Military Council as said that Egyptian forces entered Sinai only following consultations with Israel.  He said the Egyptian leadership has been conducting direct talks with Israel on the subject in order to secure Egyptian control over the Peninsula and that Cairo heeded Israeli demands that it retreat its troops and tanks from Sinai, He noted that Egypt is committed to the Camp David accords and added that the Israeli government understands Egypt’s needs and demands since the operations will not only defend Egypt but also defend Israel and stabilize the entire region.