Federal appeals court remands Guantanamo detainee bid to block Algeria transfer News
Federal appeals court remands Guantanamo detainee bid to block Algeria transfer

[JURIST] The US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit Friday remanded [PDF text] to district court a bid by Guantanamo Bay detainee Ahmed Belbacha [BBC profile] to obtain a preliminary injunction barring his transfer back to his home country of Algeria. The court in January had initially stayed [JURIST report] his transfer against the urging of the Bush administration. Belbacha has been cleared for release from Guantanamo Bay [JURIST news archive], but says he will be tortured or killed by either the government or al Qaeda if returned to Algeria.

The US Supreme Court in August denied [PDF text] Belbacha's emergency request to stay his transfer to Algeria [JURIST report]. Belbacha filed the emergency application for a stay [PDF text] after the DC Circuit appeals court lifted an earlier stay [order, PDF; JURIST report] on Belbacha's transfer. The court instead put the case on an expedited schedule. US District Judge Rosemary M. Collyer ruled [AP report] in July the court lacked jurisdiction to block Belbacha's transfer. AP has more.

THIS DAY @ LAW

No lynchings reported in US for first time

On December 30, 1952, the Tuskegee Institute reported that 1952 was the first year of no lynchings of African Americans in the United States in the 71 years it had kept records. Learn more about lynching and listen to Billie Holiday's jazz recording of the 1938 protest song Strange Fruit.

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On December 30, 1922, representatives of Russia, Belarus, Ukraine and the Transcaucus approved the Treaty on the Creation of the USSR and the Declaration of the Creation of the USSR, creating the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR). During World War II, the USSR would also annex Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia and Moldova. Learn more about the history of the USSR from the BBC.