India arrests three as Mumbai train bombings probe continues News
India arrests three as Mumbai train bombings probe continues

[JURIST] Indian authorities arrested three men Friday in connection with the July 11 Mumbai train bombings [BBC report] that killed over 180 people [Mumbai Police casualty list]. The three suspects arrested by authorities – Khaleel Aziz Sheikh, Kamal Ahmed Ansari and Mumtaz Ahmed Chowdhury – are not the same three suspects Indian authorities named [JURIST report] last week. Mumbai police, amid speculation that Kashmiri militants [BBC backgrounder] carried out the bombings, added fuel to the fire by telling the public that the three arrestees are part of a "big conspiracy," saying the Mumbai investigators have definitive proof that the three arrestees have connections to terrorist groups in Nepal, Bangladesh and Pakistan. In a speech to parliament Friday, Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf [official website, English version] maintained Pakistan's innocence, assuring the Indian government that Pakistan will fully cooperate in the investigation.

L.K. Advani [party profile], leader of India's opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) [party website], said in a speech [text] Sunday that the bombings were "a fallout of repealing" [JURIST report] the country's Prevention of Terrorism Act (POTA) [backgrounder; text], set aside by the now-ruling United Progressive Alliance when it came to power in 2004. Advani said POTA had to be revived in order for India to effectively combat terrorism, an idea which the Indian prime minister has rejected. Mumbai police have detained hundreds of people [JURIST report] since last week's bombing while investigators search for links to the perpetrators of the bombings. AP has more. From London, the Times has additional coverage.

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.