Jordan sentences absent Zarqawi to 15 years for embassy bombing plot News
Jordan sentences absent Zarqawi to 15 years for embassy bombing plot

[JURIST] Jordan's state security court has sentenced Abu Musab al-Zarqawi [BBC profile] to 15 years in prison [Reuters report] in absentia for a plot to attack the country's embassy in Iraq. Zarqawi, designated the most-wanted man in Iraq {AP report] by US authorities, was convicted along with Miqdad al-Dabbas of "conspiring to carry out terrorist acts". Dabbas was detained before any attacks could take place. Zarqawi was previously sentenced to death in absentia in connection with the murder of a US diplomat [Islamonline.net report] in 2002, and also for plotting to blow up tourist hotels [CNN report] in Amman on New Year's Eve 2000.

THIS DAY @ LAW

38 Santee Sioux hanged by US for rebellion

On December 26, 1862, 38 Santee Sioux men were hanged in a mass execution for their roles in a rebellion against US authorities in Minnesota which left hundreds dead and made refugees of some 40,000 white settlers. Government annuities promised under a treaty with the Sioux had failed to arrive on schedule and credit for purchases was not advanced in the meantime, threatening the tribe with starvation. The Santee Sioux Tribe's members were deported first to South Dakota and ultimately to Nebraska, where they remain today. Learn more about the 1862 Minnesota Sioux Rebellion.

Louis XVI put on trial during French Revolution

On December 26, 1792, Romain de Sèze, a defense attorney for deposed King Louis XVI, presented a defense of his client. The former King was on trial before a French Revolutionary court on thirty-three charges, including treason and other crimes against the state. He was convicted on January 15, 1793 executed by guillotine on the following January 21.