A court in the Indian state of Gujarat on Nov. 10 convicted 31 people of crimes committed during the 2002 Gujarat riots. The accused were convicted of murder, arson and rioting. Charges of criminal conspiracy were dropped by the court. All 31 of the convicted were sentenced to life in prison and required to pay a fine. The court acquitted 42 other defendants. The riots stemmed from anger over the death of 60 Hindus in a fire aboard a train. Violence targeting Muslims lasted three days, leaving more than 1,000 dead. Teesta Setalvad, an activist working on behalf of the riot victims said she welcomed the sentences but expressed disappointment that the investigation team look into a possible conspiracy behind the riots.

All war crimes allegations against NATO, National Transitional Council (NTC), and pro-Qaddafi forces committed during the recent conflict will be investigated "impartially and independently" according to a statement (PDF) by the chief prosecutor for the International Criminal Court (ICC), Luis Moreno-Ocampo. In his statement to the UN Security Council, Ocampo gave an update on the events in Libya regarding the ICC investigation. According to the statement, after obtaining the required documents confirming Moammar Qaddafi's death, the case against him (PDF) will likely be dropped. The statement continued by detailing the cases against Saif al-Islam Qaddafi (PDF), Moammar Qaddafi's son, and Abdullah al-Senussi (PDF), Libya's head of intelligence, and what is being done to secure their capture.

US prosecutors argued Nov. 2 that even if suspected USS Cole bomber Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri is acquitted by a military tribunal, the US government has the authority to detain him in Guantánamo Bay until the end of the hostilities in the US war on terror. Navy Lt. Cmdr. Stephen Reyes, al-Nashiri's defense attorney, argued that al-Nashiri's inevitable indefinite detention renders his trial merely a show, and that jurors have the right to be informed that they are simply playing a role in a pre-determined political decision. Prosecutors responded that a jury's potential to find al-Nashiri guilty and sentence him to death for war crimes is an issue separate from governmental authority to keep enemy combatants off the battlefield. Al-Nashiri's arraignment, scheduled for Nov. 9, will be the first time he has appeared in public since his capture in 2002, followed by a series of transfers among CIA prison systems. Al-Nashiri will also be the first Guantánamo prisoner to face a possible death sentence.

Lawyers defending detainees at Guantánamo Bay said Nov. 1 that procedures and practices employed by the US government make it impossible for them to do their jobs. In a letter (PDF) directed to the attention of the Deputy Secretary of Defense for Detainee Affairs, the attorneys allege that Joint Task Force Guantanamo (JTF-GTMO) staff seize, open, interpret, read and review attorney-client privileged communications—actions which the attorneys argue are unlawful. As a result of this practice by the JTF-GTMO, the attorneys find themselves in "an untenable position of having either to violate professional ethical standards in order to communicate with our clients, or cease communicating with our clients," and accordingly request that the practice be stopped immediately. Additionally, the attorneys, who represent six "high value detainees," address the refusal up to this point of the government to respond to their complaints or requests in spite of sending "multiple communications."

An Argentine court on Oct. 26 sentenced 12 former military and police officers to life in prison for crimes against humanity. The defendants were convicted of various crimes that took place in the Naval Mechanics School (ESMA), which was used by the former military dictatorship as a torture chamber. Argentina's military junta used the location throughout the dictatorship's 1976-1983 "Dirty War," during which more than 13,000 people were killed. Alfredo Astiz AKA the "Angel of Death" was one of the officers that received a life sentence. Astiz is a former navy spy for the dictatorship who was convicted of the murder of two French nuns, a journalist and three human rights activists. Four additional defendants were also convicted, with their sentences ranging from 18 to 25 years in prison.

The US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit on Oct. 25 reinstated a lawsuit by Papua New Guinea citizens against mining company Rio Tinto on claims of genocide and war crimes. Allowing the suit under the Alien Tort Statute (ATS), the court ruled that it may proceed due to the Australian mining company's substantial operations in the US. Rejecting several attempts by the company to block the suit, it also ruled that a corporation can be held liable for genocide:

Human Rights Watch (HRW) and Amnesty International (AI) last week urged the Canadian government to investigate and arrest former US president George W. Bush for his role in torture, ahead of his travel to an economic summit in British Columbia. AI's submission to Canadian authorities emphasizes Bush's authorization of "enhanced interrogation techniques" including waterboarding, which Bush has admitted.

The US Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit on Oct. 14 temporarily blocked portions of a controversial Alabama immigration law. The ruling came in response to a motion filed last week by the US Department of Justice (DoJ) and a coalition of immigrants rights groups after a judge for the US District Court for the Northern District of Alabama twice refused to block the law from taking effect. The appeals court granted the DoJ's motion to block Section 28, which requires immigration status checks of public school students, and Section 10, which makes it a misdemeanor for an undocumented resident not to have immigration papers. The appeals court refused to block provisions that require police to check the immigration status of suspected undocumented aliens, bar state courts from enforcing contracts involving undocumented immigrants and make it a felony for undocumented immigrants to enter into a "business transaction" or apply for a driver's license. The injunction will remain in effect until the Eleventh Circuit hears oral arguments and issues a ruling on the constitutional questions presented by the case.