US confirms eight female detainees at Abu Ghraib News
US confirms eight female detainees at Abu Ghraib

[JURIST] The US military confirmed Wednesday that it currently holds at least 8 female prisoners as security threats at the Abu Ghraib [JURIST news archive] prison in Baghdad after captors of an American journalist demanded the US free all Iraqi women detainees within 72 hours. Armed Iraqis kidnapped the journalist, Jill Carroll [CNN profile] of the Christian Science Monitor [website; Carroll updates], on January 7 from a Baghdad street and have threatened to kill her if their demand is not met. The Iraqi Justice Ministry has confirmed that civilian jails also contain woman prisoners convicted of common crimes. The US military released 509 prisoners [JURIST report] from Abu Ghraib on Sunday, including 2 international journalists. Reuters has more.

THIS DAY @ LAW

Georgia became first US state to ban lynching

On December 20, 1893, Georgia became the first state in the Union to pass a law against lynching, making the act punishable by four years in prison. The statute was not particularly effective—read the text of the 1899 pamphlet Lynch Law in Georgia by anti-lynching activist Ida Wells-Barnett.