Europe Rights Court: Muslim students must participate in mixed swimming lessons News
Europe Rights Court: Muslim students must participate in mixed swimming lessons

The European Court of Human Rights [official website] (ECHR) issued a ruling [judgment, in French] Tuesday refusing to exempt two Swiss Muslim students from compulsory mixed sex swimming lessons for religious reasons. The court explained [press release, PDF] that the students’ right to manifest their religion had been interfered with by the school’s requirement that they take mixed swimming lessons. However, the court decided that the interference served a legitimate purpose: “protection of foreign pupils from any form of social exclusion.” The court decided that the role that schools play in integrating foreign students into their new social environment outweighed the interference with foreign students’ religious freedoms.

The balance of religious freedoms and social cohesion has been a contentious issue in Europe, and the battle has played itself out in swimming waters. In September a French court upheld [JURIST report] a local ban on full-body “burkini” swimsuits. In August the French Council of State [official website, French] overturned [JURIST report] a ban on burkinis in the city of Cannes. Burkini bans were part of the French response to the killing of 84 people in July by a crazed truck driver on Bastille Day.

THIS DAY @ LAW

38 Santee Sioux hanged by US for rebellion

On December 26, 1862, 38 Santee Sioux men were hanged in a mass execution for their roles in a rebellion against US authorities in Minnesota which left hundreds dead and made refugees of some 40,000 white settlers. Government annuities promised under a treaty with the Sioux had failed to arrive on schedule and credit for purchases was not advanced in the meantime, threatening the tribe with starvation. The Santee Sioux Tribe's members were deported first to South Dakota and ultimately to Nebraska, where they remain today. Learn more about the 1862 Minnesota Sioux Rebellion.

Louis XVI put on trial during French Revolution

On December 26, 1792, Romain de Sèze, a defense attorney for deposed King Louis XVI, presented a defense of his client. The former King was on trial before a French Revolutionary court on thirty-three charges, including treason and other crimes against the state. He was convicted on January 15, 1793 executed by guillotine on the following January 21.