Venezuelan Minister for Prisons Iris Varela announced July 31 that she plans to release up to 40% of the country's prisoners in an effort to reduce prison overcrowding. Varela, who was appointed to the position by Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez last week, said roughly 20,000 inmates who had committed minor crimes and who posed no danger to society would be conditionally released. Prison authorities will begin determining which inmates could be eligible for release starting this week. Varela's appointment, as well as the latest measures to reduce prison overcrowding, come in response to a deadly uprising at El Rodeo prison in Guatire, Venezuela. Over 25 people died during the June riot and stand-off when armed prisoners clashed with National Guard troops. Chávez has set aside nearly $100 million for reforming the Venezuelan prison system, which is notoriously overcrowded.

Four former Guatemalan soldiers pleaded not guilty July 26 as the first war crimes trial over the 1982 Dos Erres massacre opened in the Central American nation's capital. Carlos Antonio Carias, Manuel Pop, Reyes Collin and Daniel Martínez are accused of being members of a military force that allegedly killed more than 250 people in the village of Dos Erres in 1982 during the country's 36-year civil war. Three of the men were members of a special forces unit known as the Kaibiles, at least part of which is alleged to have played a role in the massacre. The military force was attempting to rout out insurgents during Guatemala's military rule under Gen. Efrain Rios Montt. The four men pleaded not guilty arguing that they were not stationed with the group that carried out the atrocities at Dos Erres. They are accused of killing 201 farmers. There are also allegations that many women and girls in Dos Erres were raped and killed during the massacre. The Guatemalan civil war resulted in more than 200,000 deaths, mostly among Guatemala's large indigenous Mayan population. According to a UN report released in 1999, the military was responsible for 95 percent of those deaths.

The Syrian government on July 24 approved a draft law that would allow the formation of political parties to oppose the ruling Baath Party, led by President Bashar al-Assad. The law would permit a political party to be established so long as it is not based on religious or tribal lines and does not discriminate based on ethnicity, gender or race. Though the draft law, along with other concessions made by al-Assad, is a step toward the reform demanded, protestors seek an end to Article 8 of the Syrian Constitution, which declares the Baath Party leader of the state and society. The bill will likely be presented for debate on Aug. 7, and Parliament must approve the law before it is enacted.

An independent commission on July 24 began investigating human rights violations related to the ongoing pro-democracy protests in Bahrain. The chairman of the five-person Bahrain Independent Commission of Inquiry (BICI), Cherif Bassiouni, announced that the group's investigation would focus on 30 police officers alleged to have committed violations of procedural laws, as well as the country's army. Bahraini authorities have promised that the commission will have access to government files and will be permitted to interview witnesses without supervision. The UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) announced in June that Bahrain had agreed to permit a UN commission to investigate human rights violations related to protests shortly after King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa agreed to the investigation. Thirty-three people died during the unrest and more than 400 were injured. The commission is scheduled to publish the results of the investigation by Oct. 30.

Following Mexican attorney general Arturo Chávez's resignation in April, the attorney general's office (Prosecutor General of the Republic—PGR) charged 111 officials who served under him with corruption on July 21. Sixty-seven were charged with fraud while others were charged with varying offenses including falsifying documents, theft, interfering with administration of justice, misusing public service, abuse of power, lying in court, bribery, embezzlement and forgery. Twenty-six were issued arrest warrants. On July 22, new attorney general Marisela Morales also fired 140 police officers and released that 280 more under investigation within the organization. Of those fired, several were charged with having connections to organized crime, murder, robbery and extortion, while seven were fired due to convictions on kidnapping, murder and extortion charges, all stemming from Mexico's rampant drug trade problem.

The US is violating UN laws governing torture investigations by insisting on monitoring conversations with an imprisoned army private, UN Special Rapporteur on Torture Juan Mendez said in a press release July 12. Pfc. Bradley Manning is accused of leaking a controversial classified video of a 2007 US helicopter strike in Iraq ("Collateral Murder") and classified State Department documents on WikiLeaks last year. Manning was detained in pre-trial solitary confinement at Quantico Confinement Facility, and subsequently transferred to the Joint Regional Correctional Facility at Fort Leavenworth, Kan.

The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) on July 8 rejected two appeals from Swiss Muslims challenging Switzerland's ban on construction of minarets. The court ruled that the appeals were inadmissible because the complaints failed to meet the requirements of Article 35 Section 3 and 4 of the European Convention on Human Rights. Specifically, the court found that since the appeals were only meant to challenge a constitutional provision in a general manner in Switzerland, the applicants had failed to show any specific injury. Supporters and opponents were not surprised by the ECHR's decision. Hafid Ouardiri, one of the challengers, characterized his failed challenge as a necessary step and was encouraged by the court's statement that the Swiss courts "would be able to would be able to examine the compatibility of a possible refusal to authorise the construction of a minaret with the European Human Rights Convention."

A Yemeni man pleaded guilty July 7 to acts of piracy for the hijacking of a US vessel that resulted in the deaths of four US citizens. Mounir Ali pleaded guilty in the US District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia to being involved in the hijacking of a US yacht called Quest, in which four Americans were taken hostage and later killed by the pirates. They were the first US citizens to die in the recent wave of international maritime piracy. Ali admitted that he willingly joined four other men in a pirated Somali ship as they attempted to hijack the US vessel. He noted in his plea agreement that he personally did not shoot any of the hostages nor did he order them be shot. Neil MacBride, US Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, said Ali, "admitted today that his greed for ransom money ultimately led to the cold-blooded murder of the four US hostages. This latest guilty plea again shows that modern piracy is far different than the romantic portrayal in summer-time movies. Pirates who attack on US citizens on the high seas will face justice in a US courtroom."