US military personnel detail Gitmo, Iraq detainee abuse in new book, meeting News
US military personnel detail Gitmo, Iraq detainee abuse in new book, meeting

[JURIST] Amid efforts to pass legislation [JURIST report] that would impose restrictions on the detention and interrogation of terror suspects, more allegations have been made of detainee mistreatment [JURIST news archive] at US facilities in Guantanamo Bay and Iraq. Army Capt. James Yee [advocacy website], former Muslim chaplain at Guantanamo Bay [JURIST news archive] has written a new book [For God and Country website] chronicling his time at the detention facility and describing a hostile environment in which soldiers harassed and mocked the Muslim detainees. Yee arrived at the camp in 2002 and was later arrested on suspicion of espionage and held in solitary confinement for 76 days. He was later exonerated [JURIST report], and received an honorable discharge. In a related development, Army Capt. Ian Fishback, the primary and originally-anonymous source for a recent Human Rights Watch report [text] on abuse of Iraqi detainees, met Tuesday with US Sen. John McCain to detail allegations of abuse [NYT report] that occurred at the hands of US soldiers in 2003 and 2004. Fishback, a member of the 82nd Airborne Division [official website], told McCain and other members of the Senate Armed Services Committee that he witnessed and received reports from other military personnel that soldiers beat Iraqi prisoners and exposed them to extreme conditions. AP has more.

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THIS DAY @ LAW

US Supreme Court heard New York Times v. Sullivan

On January 6, 1964, the US Supreme Court heard oral arguments in the free speech/free press case of New York Times v. Sullivan. Columbia Law School professor Herbert Wechsler argued for the petitioner. Listen to the oral arguments on Oyez, the Supreme Court multimedia database at Northwestern University.

Charles I of England put on trial

On January 6, 1649, the Parliament of England voted to put Charles I on trial for high treason following the English Civil War. Prior to the vote, a group of soldiers purged Parliament of Members they believed would vote in the King's favor, creating the Rump Parliament. The Rump Parliament then voted on January 6 to create the High Court of Justice, which would serve as the body to try King Charles. He was convicted on January 27 and finally executed on January 30 of that same year.

Learn more about the trial of King Charles I of England.