Saddam insists trial should remain in Iraq, defense lawyer says News
Saddam insists trial should remain in Iraq, defense lawyer says

[JURIST] Saddam Hussein has rejected a suggestion from his lawyers to transfer his trial [JURIST news archive] out of Iraq, claiming "I was born in Iraq and I want to die there," according to Jordanian lawyer Salah al-Armuti in an interview with the Al-Sharqu Al-Awsat newspaper. Hussein's lawyers have repeatedly condemned the Iraqi High Criminal Court [JURIST news archive] trying Hussein as illegitimate because US authorities helped create it. In a report to the UN Human Rights Commission earlier this month, UN Special Rapporteur on the Independence of Judges and Lawyers [official website] Leandro Despouy also questioned [JURIST report] the legitimacy of the tribunal and suggested Hussein should answer to an international tribunal with the cooperation of the UN instead. The UN refuses to support the current tribunal partly because of concerns about partiality and the prospect of the death penalty against defendants.

The Iraqi High Criminal Court is in the process of trying Hussein and seven former aides on crimes against humanity charges for the killing of 148 Shiites [JURIST report] in Dujail in 1982. The trial is currently adjourned until April 5 [JURIST report]. AFP has more.

THIS DAY @ LAW

US Supreme Court ruled Indians not US citizens

On November 3, 1884, the US Supreme Court ruled in Elk v. Wilkins that John Elk, an American Indian who had tried to vote in a federal election in Omaha, Nebraska, was not a US citizen entitled to the protection of the 14th and 15th Amendments of the US Constitution. Native Americans became eligible for citizenship in 1887 under the Dawes Act, but only in 1924, under the Indian Citizenship Act, were all Native Americans born in the US made citizens.

Last public execution at Tyburn Gallows in London

On November 3, 1783, the last public execution took place at Tyburn Gallows in London, when John Austin was hanged for highway robbery. From the hanging of William Fitz Osburn in 1196 until Austin's execution, Tyburn served as London's primary location for public executions.

Learn more about the trial of John Austin.