US detains Rwanda genocide suspect News
US detains Rwanda genocide suspect

[JURIST] Rwandan Foreign Minister Charles Murigande [official profile] announced Friday the arrest of Rwandan genocide suspect Isaac Kamali [fugitive list profile] by US authorities at the Philadelphia International Airport while Kamali was attempting to enter the United States earlier this week. Murigande hopes that Kamali, a former senior official with the Ministry of Public Works who holds dual-citizenship from France, will be extradited to Rwanda to face trial for allegedly participating in the killing, looting, and destruction of property held by Tutsis during the 1994 Rwandan genocide [BBC backgrounder]. It is unclear whether French authorities will contest the extradition, which might be complicated by Kamali's use of a French passport to enter the United States. French law prohibits the extradition of French nationals to other countries.

On Monday, senior UN officials from the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) and the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) [official websites] urged [press release; JURIST report] countries to cooperate in the capture of numerous fugitives who remain at large. The ICTR is expected to finish its work by 2009, and has moved to transfer some genocide cases [JURIST report] to Rwandan courts after the Rwandan parliament abolished the death penalty [JURIST report]. Reuters has more.

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.