Dalai Lama calls for Saddam to be spared News
Dalai Lama calls for Saddam to be spared

[JURIST] The Dalai Lama [BBC profile] called Sunday for the sparing of Saddam Hussein's life in the face of the death sentence [JURIST report] imposed on him last Sunday in the Dujail crimes against humanity case, telling reporters "however horrible an act a person may have committed, everyone has the potential to improve and correct himself." The exiled Tibetan leader and recipient of the 1989 Nobel Peace prize [official materials] was ending a two-week visit to Japan Sunday when he said he "hope[d] that, in the case of Saddam Hussein, as with all others, that human life will be respected and spared."

The Dalai Lama has been an outspoken critic of the death penalty [official message], calling it "very clearly a form of revenge." AFP has more.

THIS DAY @ LAW

Montgomery started racially-integrated bus service after boycott

On December 21, 1956, buses in Montgomery, Alabama, started racially integrated service following federal court rulings ending on-board segregation. Bus boycott leaders Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King and Rev. Ralph Abernathy were among the first riders under the new scheme. Learn about the Montgomery Bus Boycott.

Stalin born

On December 21, 1879, Joseph Stalin was born in Gori, Georgia. In 1922, he became leader of the USSR until his death in 1953. During his time as Soviet dictator, Stalin industrialized his country, which he then led to become one of the world's two superpowers after WWII. Through his infamous purges, show trials and nationwide famines, Stalin also became responsible for millions of deaths.