US to present Security Council resolution for Hariri tribunal News
US to present Security Council resolution for Hariri tribunal

[JURIST] US Ambassador to the UN Zalmay Khalilzad [official profile] said Tuesday that the US will submit a draft resolution to the UN Security Council to establish a tribunal under Chapter VII of the UN Charter [texts] to try suspects in the 2005 assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri [JURIST news archive]. According to Khalilzad, the US decided to submit the proposal after Lebanese Prime Minister Fuad Siniora [BBC profile] formally requested the UN's unilateral establishment of the tribunal [JURIST report] in a letter to Ban Monday. Siniora told Ban that previous efforts to gain Lebanese parliamentary ratification of the tribunal plan had failed.

At a press conference [transcript] at UN Headquarters in New York, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon supported a Security Council initiative [UN press release], saying:

I am of the view that, after having exhausted all diplomatic efforts by the United Nations, including myself, and having received an official request from the Government of Lebanon, asking the Security Council to take necessary action, I think it is necessary for the Security Council to take necessary action. I hope the Security Council members will debate on this matter and take necessary action. I am of the view, in my capacity as Secretary-General that, as a matter of principle, there should be no impunity for the perpetrators of political assassinations. It is important that there should be firm principles respected.

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.