Army reports indicate abuse caused Afghan prisoner deaths in 2002 News
Army reports indicate abuse caused Afghan prisoner deaths in 2002

[JURIST] The New York Times reported Saturday that as-yet-unreleased investigative reports obtained by Human Rights Watch [official website] reveal that the 2002 deaths of two Afghan prisoners in US custody resulted from them being chained and beaten by American soldiers at Bagram Control Point [profile] near Kabul. In a closed military hearing last month in Texas, Pfc. Willie V. Brand was charged with manslaughter [UCMJ text] in connection with one of the deaths. In the first official account of the events, Brand admitted to striking a detainee named Diliwar 37 times. Army Criminal Investigation Command [official website] reports also indicate that the abuse at Bagram, which preceded the Abu Ghraib abuse cases [JURIST hot topic] by nearly a year, went far beyond the two deaths. Several other soldiers have been recommended for prosecution, including four military interrogators accused of assaulting Diliwar and another detainee by "kicks to the groin and leg, shoving or slamming him into walls/table, forcing the detainee to maintain painful, contorted body positions during interview and forcing water into his mouth until he could not breathe." Reuters has more.

THIS DAY @ LAW

Montgomery started racially-integrated bus service after boycott

On December 21, 1956, buses in Montgomery, Alabama, started racially integrated service following federal court rulings ending on-board segregation. Bus boycott leaders Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King and Rev. Ralph Abernathy were among the first riders under the new scheme. Learn about the Montgomery Bus Boycott.

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On December 21, 1879, Joseph Stalin was born in Gori, Georgia. In 1922, he became leader of the USSR until his death in 1953. During his time as Soviet dictator, Stalin industrialized his country, which he then led to become one of the world's two superpowers after WWII. Through his infamous purges, show trials and nationwide famines, Stalin also became responsible for millions of deaths.