Iraqi tribunal insists Saddam trial judge not seeking UK asylum News
Iraqi tribunal insists Saddam trial judge not seeking UK asylum

[JURIST] The Iraqi judge responsible for sentencing Saddam Hussein [JURIST news archive] to death is not seeking political asylum in Great Britain, according to the Iraqi High Tribunal [official website] Sunday. Judge Rauf Rasheed Abdel-Rahman [BBC profile; JURIST news archive] has been in London since December but reportedly confirmed to the tribunal that he does not intend to apply for asylum for himself or his family, despite a Friday Aljazeera TV report to the contrary.

In November 2006 Abdel-Rahman, a Kurd, sentenced Hussein to death [JURIST report] for crimes against humanity committed in the town of Dujail in 1982. Hussein was executed [JURIST report] on December 30. AFP has more.

THIS DAY @ LAW

UN General Assembly approves Palestine partition plan

The UN General Assembly approved UN Resolution Resolution 181 (II) on November 29, 1947, recommending that the British Mandate for Palestine be split into a Jewish state, an Arab state, and an international zone for Jerusalem. The vote in the assembly was 33 for to 13 against, with 10 abstentions. The resolution sparked a war between Palestinian Arabs and Jews in 1947 and a wider war after Egypt, Syria, Jordan, Iraq, and Lebanon invaded the new State of Israel in 1948. Read Resolution 181 (II).

UN divided Palestine between Arabs and Jews

On November 29, 1947, the UN General Assembly voted to partition Palestine into Jewish and Arab territories, leading to the establishment of a Jewish state the following year. Read UN General Assembly Resolution 181.

Defense Secretary Robert McNamara resigns during Vietnam Conflict

On November 29, 1967, Secretary of Defense Robert S. McNamara announced that he was resigning from his office to accept an appointment as head of the World Bank. The announcement came as the Vietnam Conflict was becoming increasingly unpopular in the United States and abroad.