Syria to allow UN investigator to question relatives of president in Hariri probe News
Syria to allow UN investigator to question relatives of president in Hariri probe

[JURIST] Syria [JURIST news archive] has agreed to allow Detlev Mehlis, the German prosecutor leading the UN probe of the assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri [JURIST news archive], to interview two relatives of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad [BBC profile]. The Syrian Ambassador to Britain, Sami al-Khiyami, told the BBC Tuesday that the president's brother and brother-in-law would agree to see the UN commission. Maher al-Assad, the president's brother is the head of Syria's presidential guard, and his brother-in-law, Asef Shawkat, is the head of military intelligence. Both men were implicated in Mehlis' interim report [PDF text]. The offer comes a day after a UN resolution [text] demanded cooperation with the Hariri probe [JURIST report]. BBC News 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.