"No iron can enter the human heart as chillingly as a full stop placed at the right time." - Isaac Babel
An Iraqi man who worked as an interpreter for the US military is shot dead for having apparently converted to Christianity. The reaction to his murder illustrates the difficulty of balancing ancient articles of faith against a democratic obligation to guard religious minorities.
The unsolved killing of a student journalist and critic of the Iraqi Kurdish authorities renews fears for press freedom in the region.
An Algerian doctor joins the small list of former Guantanamo Bay detainees who have been transferred to Albania. “Abu Mohammed” is trapped in a legal limbo that prevents him from being reunited with the family he last saw in 2001. Report from Tirana for BBC News, May 2007
An investigation into the US policy of arranging asylum in Albania for former Guantanamo Bay detainees. The men were forbidden under American law from being repatriated to their countries on account of the risk that they would be mistreated there. Impoverished Albania stepped in to accommodate them. I nicknamed this practice, “extraordinary rehabilitation”. Report from Tirana for BBC News, January 2007
The extraordinary tale of a group of Uighurs from western China who were captured in Afghanistan, imprisoned at Guantanamo Bay, and resettled in Albania. I tracked the men down while on holiday in the Balkans. Report from Tirana for BBC News, January 2007
Human rights groups say a planned deal for the transfer of terror suspects from the UK to Jordan does not contain adequate safeguards against torture. BBC News, August 2005
