Sweden opens inquiry into alleged CIA plane landings News
Sweden opens inquiry into alleged CIA plane landings

[JURIST] Sweden opened up an investigation Thursday into allegations that the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) [official website] may have landed planes containing terror suspects at Swedish airports several times since 2002. The investigation is one of many currently underway [JURIST report] in various European countries, including Iceland, Scotland, Spain, Romania, and Poland. The government has requested a complete investigation before December 8, but aviation agency officials expect to finish earlier. One of the suspected planes also landed at Oslo's main airport in Norway last July, and a US spokesperson told Norwegian officials yesterday that the plane did not contain terror detainees. The Danish government has revealed that CIA planes have violated Danish airspace 20 times since 2001, and landed within the country. Swedish Prime Minister Goeran Perrson [official profile] told reporters Thursday that if the investigation reveals evidence of US detainees on Swedish soil, "we will then address the question to the Americans … about what they have transported in these planes." AFP has more.

THIS DAY @ LAW

International Day Against Fascism and Anti-Semitism

November 9 is the International Day Against Fascism and Anti-Semitism [UNITED factsheet]. On November 9, 1924, American gay activist Henry Gerber and several associates formed the Society for Human Rights, the first gay rights organization in the United States. The Society received a charter from the State of Illinois in December but was disbanded in July 1925 after a police raid which led to Gerber's arrest and trial (albeit not conviction). Pay a virtual visit to Henry Gerber House, now a registered Chicago landmark.

Supreme Court strikes down Massachusetts anti-draft law

On November 9, 1970, the Supreme Court voted 6-3 in Massachusetts v. Laird not to hear the case of the state's anti-draft law. Massachusetts had passed a law, which allowed its citizens to decline to fight in any undeclared war, even if the person was drafted. The law was passed in opposition to the draft and the war in Vietnam. The First Circuit found the war constitutional and thus struck down the law.