Ex-Guantanamo Bay detainee describes systematic torture News
Ex-Guantanamo Bay detainee describes systematic torture

[JURIST] Recently released Turkish-German Guantanamo Bay detainee Murat Kurnaz [Amnesty profile] has told Turkey's CNN Turk [media website, in Turkish] that while he was at the US military prison he was subjected to systematic torture at the hands of US personnel, including electric shocks, having his head submerged in water and being shackled to the ceiling for days at a time. Kurnaz also alleged Monday that guards sometimes refused to feed him, once for 20 days. He made similar claims [JURIST report] through his lawyer while still a prisoner at the US detention facility.

Kurnaz spent almost five years at Guantanamo Bay [JURIST news archive] before being returned to Germany [JURIST report] in August after German authorities pressed for his release [JURIST report]. In October, Germany began a probe [JURIST report] into whether Kurnaz was abused by German soldiers in Afghanistan before he was transferred to Guantanamo. The German Defense Ministry has denied the allegations [JURIST report]. AFP has more.

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.