Iraqis name tribunal judge, lawyer shot dead in Baghdad News
Iraqis name tribunal judge, lawyer shot dead in Baghdad

[JURIST] Judge Barwez Mohammed Mahmoud al-Merwani and his son, lawyer Aryan Barwez al-Merwani, both of whom were working with the Iraqi Special Tribunal [governing statute] were assassinated late Tuesday [CBC News report] as they were exiting their Baghdad home. In the wake of contradictory wire reports that had initially misidentified the murdered judge as Raid Juhi al-Saadi, who had presided over Hussein's first appearance before the tribunal in July, Interior Ministry officials confirmed the killing of al-Merwani Wednesday, saying that the judge was involved in Saddam Hussein's case. The Iraqi Special Tribunal was established in 2003 to try Saddam Hussein [JURIST Newsmakers archive] and other former high-level officials for war crimes and crimes against humanity. Police are investigating whether the killings were connected to the pair's work at the tribunal. Reuters has more.

THIS DAY @ LAW

UN General Assembly approves Palestine partition plan

The UN General Assembly approved UN Resolution Resolution 181 (II) on November 29, 1947, recommending that the British Mandate for Palestine be split into a Jewish state, an Arab state, and an international zone for Jerusalem. The vote in the assembly was 33 for to 13 against, with 10 abstentions. The resolution sparked a war between Palestinian Arabs and Jews in 1947 and a wider war after Egypt, Syria, Jordan, Iraq, and Lebanon invaded the new State of Israel in 1948. Read Resolution 181 (II).

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