Sri Lanka military police arrest defeated opposition candidate News
Sri Lanka military police arrest defeated opposition candidate

[JURIST] Sri Lankan military police on Monday arrested defeated opposition presidential candidate and former general Sarath Fonseka [BBC profile]. The Sri Lankan Media Centre for National Security (MCNS) announced [press release] that Fonseka was arrested "in connection with certain fraudulent acts and other military offences." Fonseka, who orchestrated the successful military campaign against the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) [JURIST news archive] in May, unsuccessfully attempted to turn the military campaign to political advantage in January's presidential elections [NYT report].

Last week 37 people, most of them military officers, were arrested in connection to an alleged assassination attempt against current President Mahinda Rajapaksa [official website]. The Sri Lankan Supreme Court ruled last Tuesday that Rajapaksa's second term [JURIST report] will begin in November. The apparent victor in January's elections, Rajapaksa defeated Fonseka by an official margin of 18 points, winning re-election to a second term in office. Fonseka has disputed [Al Jazeera report] the results, however, saying violence and vote-counting irregularities invalidated the outcome.

THIS DAY @ LAW

UN Security Council called for Israeli withdrawal from territories occupied in Six Days' War

On November 22, 1967, the UN Security Council called for Israeli withdrawal from territories occupied during the Six Days' War, and for respect of the right of all States in the area to "live in peace within secure and recognized boundaries." Read Resolution 242, which remains a cornerstone of efforts to achieve peace in the Middle East.

President Kennedy assassinated, VP Lyndon Johnson sworn inin

On November 22, 1963, President John F. Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas, Texas. Later that day, Vice-President Lyndon Johnson was sworn in as the 36th President of the United States. Earl Warren, the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, was later tasked with leading a commission to investigate the assassination. President Johnson received the final report of the Warren Commission on September 24, 1964. Read the Warren Commission Report.