Judges for the US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit in New York City Sept. 17 upheld a verdict in favor of Royal Dutch Shell PLC in a case brought by families of Ogoni protesters who were executed by the Nigerian government in 1995, apparently in retaliation for speaking out against the oil company. The court ruled that the Alien Tort Claims Act (ATCA) does not apply to corporations, relieving Shell of liability for alleged complicity in human rights abuses in Nigeria. The plaintiffs had accused Shell of enlisting Nigerian military forces to help stop protests in the country, resulting in the violation of human rights among the Ogoni people.

A Chinese prison on Sept. 9 released Chen Guangcheng, a blind Chinese human rights legal activist who has finished serving a four-year sentence for damaging property and "organizing a mob to disturb traffic." According to Human Rights Watch, the Chinese authorities have since placed Chen under house arrest and increased surveillance of his home and family, bringing into question the authenticity of his release. Family members allege that Chen suffers from health problems caused by mistreatment he received while in prison, including beatings and repeated food poisonings. Chen claims the charges were retribution for his documentation of forced sterilizations and abortions performed by Chinese officials to enforce China's one-child policy.

A Guatemalan judge ruled Sept. 8 that three soldiers charged in connection with a 1982 peasant massacre that left more than 260 dead will face trial. Of the 17 soldiers accused in the case, three were captured in Guatemala and four others have been detained in the US by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) for illegally concealing their past military service and involvement in the killings on US immigration forms. The charges against the soldiers are based on the findings of a Truth Commission investigation monitored by the UN and completed in the late 1990s, which uncovered vast human rights abuses. The trials are the first for massacre crimes committed during the civil war years.

The US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit Sept. 8 affirmed a district court's dismissal of a suit brought by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) against a Boeing subsidiary in connection with its alleged role in the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) "extraordinary rendition" program.

The Criminal Chamber of Spain's Supreme Court unanimously confirmed on Sept. 7 a lower court finding that National Court judge Baltasar Garzón abused his power and must face trial. Garzón was charged in April for his attempt to investigate the war crimes allegedly committed under Francisco Franco during the Spanish Civil War—charges Garzón claims were politically motivated. The board of judges denied Garzón's appeal of the order, and he will now face trial later this year. The judges found that the witnesses called by Garzón will produce merely personal opinions and also determined that exhumation of 19 mass graves that Garzón ordered in 2008 was inappropriate. The ruling comes just days after an Argentine court reopened an investigation into Franco-era war crimes.

The US Department of Justice announced Sept. 1 that it has charged Pakistani Taliban leader Hakimulla Mehsud in connection with the Dec. 30 attack on CIA Afghan outpost Camp Chapman that left nine people dead. Mehsud identifies himself as the head of Tehrik-e Taliban Pakistan (TTP).

Arizona's Gov. Jan Brewer on Aug. 27 called on Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to remove any mention of Arizona and its passage of SB 1070 from a human rights report issued by the State Department. The report, submitted to the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights as part of a universal review, discussed the passage and current injunction of portions of SB 1070 within a section entitled, "A commitment to values in engagements across our borders." Brewer's sternly-worded letter called inclusion of any mention of SB 1070 "offensive" in light of the membership of the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC), including Cuba and Libya.

US military judge Army Col. Patrick Parrish rejected claims by Canadian Guantánamo Bay detainee Omar Khadr that his confession was a product of torture, in a ruling released Aug. 20. Khadr's lawyers had argued that his statements were illegally obtained through threats of rape and death by interrogators. Parrish rejected the suppression motion, finding: