Records show Iraq detainee abuse probe left incomplete News
Records show Iraq detainee abuse probe left incomplete

[JURIST] Pentagon records [PDF] made public Thursday by the ACLU [press release] through ongoing FOIA requests [ACLU materials] show that the US Army closed a criminal investigation of abuse allegations by an Iraqi detainee [JURIST news archive] last year without questioning any Americans involved in the case, ultimately finding no reason to believe the detainee's allegations. The unnamed detainee, a relative of a former Saddam Hussein bodyguard, claimed that he had been kicked and punched by interrogators and suffered other abusive treatment. The investigation was closed because records to refute or substantiate the claims could not be located but was later reopened after a review concluded that the investigation was flawed. A review of the investigation determined that the absence of documentation was "unacceptable." AP has more.

Previously in JURIST's Paper Chase…

THIS DAY @ LAW

Fyodor Dostoevsky sentenced to death

Russian author Fyodor Dostoevsky was sentenced to death on November 16, 1849 over his involvement in the progressive Petrashevsky Circle of intellectuals. Dostoevsky and his codefendants were scheduled to be executed on December 22 of that year, but their execution was stayed by Tsar Nicholas I after the execution ritual had been carried out. Dostoevsky was sent to Siberia instead to serve a four-year sentence. Learn more about the mock execution of Dostoevsky.

Canada executed Metis leader for treason

On November 16, 1885, the Canadian government executed Metis leader Louis Riel for high treason in the wake of the "Northwest Rebellion" that had pitted the Metis (descendants of French traders and native tribes) in what is now Saskatchewan against Canadian troops. Although Riel has lately been rehabilitated as an Indigenous francophone patriot of the Canadian West, his trial and execution remain sore points between English and French Canada.

US President Nixon signs Trans-Alaska Pipeline Act

On November 16, 1973, US President Richard Nixon signed the Trans-Alaska Pipeline Act into law. In addition to creating an oil pipeline across the state, the Act also quashed all environmental-legal challenges regarding its construction.