Guantanamo tribunals begin top terror suspect reviews in closed-door sessions News
Guantanamo tribunals begin top terror suspect reviews in closed-door sessions

[JURIST] US military hearings on whether 14 top terror suspects [DNI profile, PDF] formerly held in CIA secret prisons [JURIST report] qualify as "enemy combatants" [CFR backgrounder] began Friday at Guantanamo Bay [JURIST news archive]. Combatant Status Review Tribunals (CSRTs) [DOD backgrounder] will determine the status of Abu Zubaydah [BBC profile], Ramzi bin al-Shibh [Wikipedia profile], Riduan Isamuddin [Wikipedia profile], and Khalid Sheikh Mohammed [FoxNews profile], the alleged mastermind of the September 11, 2001 attacks, as well as other detainees. The proceedings are closed to the press [JURIST report].

The Center for Constitutional Rights [advocacy website], the civil rights group representing detainee Majid Khan [GlobalSecurity profile], has protested that the procedings "cannot in anyway legitimize Khan's unlawful detention." Seton Hall law professor Mark Denbeaux [university profile] and Joshua Denbeaux [corporate website], co-authors of a comprehensive study of Guantanamo detainees [PDF; JURIST report] based on declassified Defense Department records, have criticized the CSRT hearings as "lawless" because detainees cannot have lawyers present or call or view evidence. AFP has more.

THIS DAY @ LAW

Pope Urban II sparks First Crusade

Pope Urban II threw his support behind what would become the First Crusade on November 27, 1095 during the Council of Clairmont. The Pope urged the council's participants to render aid to the Byzantine Empire, which was being attacked by the Seljuks. Pope Urban called for a wide coalition of rich and poor to combat the threat, which eventually resulted in the conquest of much of the Muslim-controlled Levant by the Crusaders and the establishment of the Crusader States. Read Pope Urban's address.  

Catholic Code of Canon Law revised

On November 27, 1983, the revised Code of Canon Law of the Roman Catholic Church went into effect. Learn more about the history of Canon Law from Professor Kenneth Pennington of the Catholic University of America's Columbus School of Law.

Alfred Nobel creates Nobel Prize in his will

On November 27, 1895, Alfred Nobel signed his will, creating the Nobel Prize. Learn more about the history of the Nobel Prize and the Nobel Commission.