Cuba releases nine dissidents, 17 still in prison News
Cuba releases nine dissidents, 17 still in prison

[JURIST] Cuba has released nine people imprisoned for taking part in government protests, but still holds 17 people arrested last week as part of a crackdown on dissent. The US has previously objected [JURIST report] to oppression of anti-government activists in Cuba. The nine released [Aljazeera report] on Saturday had been picked up by police prior to a scheduled protest demanding the release of political prisoners. The leader of the Assembly for the Promotion of Civil Society [advocacy website, English version], Martha Beatriz Roque [advocacy website profile], was among the nine released and says she will continue to protest Fidel Castro's government until all dissidents are released. Reuters has more.

THIS DAY @ LAW

Thomas Becket, former Chancellor of England, murdered by Henry II's knights

On December 29, 1170, Archbishop Thomas Becket, former Chancellor of England, was murdered in Canterbury Cathedral by knights acting in the name of Henry II.

Becket and Henry had been entangled in a power struggle over, among other things, criminal jurisdiction over clergy. Read a contemporary account of the murder of Thomas Becket.

Texas attains US statehood

On December 29, 1845, Texas became the twenty-eighth state to join the United States of America when US President James K. Polk signed the Ordinance of Annexation. Texas had a complicated path to statehood because it had formerly been part of Mexico and then an independent republic. The US Congress passed the Annexation of the Republic of Texas Joint Resolution on March 1, 1845. Voters in Texas then approved the Ordinance of Annexation in October, before it was approved by the US Congress and signed into law by President Polk on this day in 1845. The US Supreme Court later ruled in Texas v. White that, despite its unique path to statehood, Texas did not have the right to secede from the union.