Indonesia cannot ban militant group Jemaah Islamiah, VP says News
Indonesia cannot ban militant group Jemaah Islamiah, VP says

[JURIST] The Indonesian government cannot ban Islamic militant group Jemaah Islamiah (JI) [BBC profile] because the government never formally acknowledged the group's existence, Vice President Yusuf Kalla said Sunday. Australia has called on Indonesia to outlaw the group [JURIST report], and Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer [official website] will travel to Indonesia [JURIST news archive] next week to discuss the issue. JI, al Qaeda linked group, is blamed for 2002 Bali bombings [CNN backgrounder] which killed 202 people, including 88 Australians, and is also expected to be behind the coordinated attacks in Bali [BBC report] earlier this month. AFP has more.

THIS DAY @ LAW

Ku Klux Klan founded

The US hate group known as the Ku Klux Klan was founded on December 24, 1865 in Pulaski, Tennessee as a reaction to reconstruction efforts following the Union victory in the American Civil War. The group would later become notorious for its attacks on Black Americans, being targeted by the Enforcement Act of 1871, which imposed civil and criminal liability for deprivation of constitutional rights. Read the Enforcement Act of 1871.  

Hamid Karzai born

On December 24, 1957, Hamid Karzai was born in Karz, Afghanistan. He would go on to become in 2004 his country's first elected president after the end of Taliban rule in 2001.