Iran judiciary refuses to return remains of Canadian reporter News
Iran judiciary refuses to return remains of Canadian reporter

[JURIST] Iran's judiciary [official website] Tuesday rejected Canada's demands that the remains of a Iranian-Canadian photographer who died in detention in Tehran be returned to Canada. Officials in Ottawa demanded last week that Iran return the body of Zahra Kazemi [CBC backgrounder], who died in custody in July 2003, so that an autopsy could be performed to investigate allegations of rape [JURIST report]. Iran's judiciary rejected the request stating that Kazemi "was an Iranian citizen and having a Canadian citizenship does not exclude her case from being dealt with by the Iranian courts." The laws of Iran do not recognize dual nationality. However, the case will be reviewed by an appeal court in Tehran, with lawyers to present their claims on May 20. Last Sunday, Nobel peace prize winner Shirin Ebadi [official profile], who is representing Kazemi's mother, asked the head of Iran's judiciary to appoint a special judge to investigate the circumstances of Kazemi's death. Kazemi died 10 days after being arrested for photographing a demonstration outside a Tehran prison. AFP has more.

THIS DAY @ LAW

No lynchings reported in US for first time

On December 30, 1952, the Tuskegee Institute reported that 1952 was the first year of no lynchings of African Americans in the United States in the 71 years it had kept records. Learn more about lynching and listen to Billie Holiday's jazz recording of the 1938 protest song Strange Fruit.

USSR established

On December 30, 1922, representatives of Russia, Belarus, Ukraine and the Transcaucus approved the Treaty on the Creation of the USSR and the Declaration of the Creation of the USSR, creating the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR). During World War II, the USSR would also annex Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia and Moldova. Learn more about the history of the USSR from the BBC.