Former Iraq deputy PM admitted to US military hospital after fainting in custody News
Former Iraq deputy PM admitted to US military hospital after fainting in custody

[JURIST] A lawyer for former Saddam Hussein-era deputy prime minister Tariq Aziz [BBC profile; JURIST news archive] said Saturday that Aziz was taken to a US military hospital in Balad this week after he fainted several times in the US-run detention facility, where he is being held, near Baghdad airport. Aziz, who surrendered to US forces in 2003, has complained of health problems [JURIST report] throughout his detention. He was taken to the hospital the day before he was due in court for questioning about his alleged in the killing of Muslim clerics after the 1991 war. Aziz has said he had no involvement in the murders. AP has more.

In March, Aziz was brought before the Iraqi High Tribunal [official website] to testify against six defendants accused of genocide in the Anfal trial [BBC trial timeline]. He instead denied [JURIST report] that Hussein's government had ever carried out any such attacks.

THIS DAY @ LAW

Georgia became first US state to ban lynching

On December 20, 1893, Georgia became the first state in the Union to pass a law against lynching, making the act punishable by four years in prison. The statute was not particularly effective—read the text of the 1899 pamphlet Lynch Law in Georgia by anti-lynching activist Ida Wells-Barnett.