Head of Saddam defense committee quits, hands over to former US AG Clark News
Head of Saddam defense committee quits, hands over to former US AG Clark

[JURIST] Jordanian lawyer Ziad Khasawneh [Atlantic profile], the head of the Committee for Defending Saddam Hussein, announced Wednesday that he is quitting the group, turning full control of the former Iraqi president's defense over to a team led by maverick former US Attorney General Ramsey Clark [JURIST report; Wikipedia profile], who served in the administration of President Lyndon Johnson. Clark previously called the planned trial of Hussein before an Iraqi special court "unfair" [UPI report]. The Committee had been unable to meet with Hussein face-to-face and Khasawneh indicated it might be dissolved. UPI has more.

THIS DAY @ LAW

Rosa Parks arrested for not giving up bus seat to white passenger

On December 1, 1955, civil rights activist Rosa Parks was arrested for refusing to give up her seat to a white man on a bus in Montgomery, Alabama. Her action prompted a year-long boycott of the Montgomery public transit system, which only came to an end after bus segregation was ruled illegal by the federal courts. Read a brief biography of Rosa Parks from the Rosa Parks Library and Museum at Troy State Univerity, Montgomery. In 1999 Ms. Parks received the background report on the Pacifica News Network.

World AIDS Day

On December 1, 1988, World AIDS Day was observed for the first time.