Murat Gasayev, an ethnic Chechen accused of participation in an attack on government buildings in Ingushetia in June 2004, was released by Russian authorities without charge on August 28, 2009, after 10 months in pretrial detention.

Italy’s expulsion of a Tunisian terrorism suspect to a country where he is at real risk of torture is the latest example of how it flouts the absolute ban on such returns. Italy returned Ali Ben Sassi Toumi to Tunisia on August 2, 2009, despite repeated rulings from the European Court of Human Rights to suspend the planned expulsion until the court fully investigates the claim that he would face torture or other mistreatment upon his return.

The US Defense Department’s claim that a former Guantanamo detainee is a “recidivist” to terrorism appears to be based on a confession obtained by Russian authorities through torture. According to media reports, an unreleased Pentagon study has concluded that about one in seven of the 534 detainees who have been transferred from the Guantanamo Bay detention center returned to terrorism or militant activity.

In his first 100 days in office, President Barack Obama has made significant progress in reforming the Bush administration’s abusive counterterrorism policies, but his administration has also made a few serious missteps.

A House of Lords ruling that allows the deportation of terrorist suspects to Algeria and Jordan damages the global ban on torture.

The inauguration of Barack Obama as 44th president of the United States should usher in a new era of reformed counterterrorism policies, Human Rights Watch said today. Upon taking office, President Obama should immediately renounce the Bush administration’s abusive approach to fighting terrorism and embrace new policies that respect basic rights.

Spain should immediately halt plans to extradite an ethnic Chechen to Russia, where he will be at risk of torture.

Upon taking office, President-elect Barack Obama should decisively repudiate the abusive counterterrorism practices of the past seven years and adopt fair and effective policy reforms, Human Rights Watch said in a briefing paper released today.