Cuba says US release of anti-Castro militant broke anti-terror treaties News
Cuba says US release of anti-Castro militant broke anti-terror treaties

[JURIST] Cuba Friday accused the US of violating international anti-terrorism treaties by freeing anti-Castro militant Luis Posada Carriles [JURIST news archive; case materials] on bail and afterwards dismissing an indictment [JURIST report] against him. In a statement [text] published in state newspaper Granma, the Cuban government said Posada Carriles' release went against UN Security Council Resolution No. 1373 (2001), the International Convention for the Suppression of Terrorist Bombings, and the Convention for the Suppression of Unlawful Acts against the Safety of Civil Aviation [texts].

In April, Posada Carriles was released from a New Mexico jail [JURIST report] after posting bond amidst ongoing debate concerning his release. On Tuesday, Cuban President Fidel Castro blamed the release [JURIST report] for sparking an attempted plane hijacking [Reuters report] by two soldiers that resulted in the death of an army officer in Cuba. Posada Carriles is wanted in both Cuba and Venezuela on terrorism charges relating to the 1976 bombing of a Cuban airline [Wikipedia backgrounder]. AP has more.

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.