UK court finds four guilty in 2005 London transit bombing attempts News
UK court finds four guilty in 2005 London transit bombing attempts

[JURIST] An English court Monday found four men guilty for plotting the failed bomb attacks on London's subway and bus systems [JURIST news archive] on July 21, 2005, two weeks after a similar attack [JURIST news archive] killed 52 people. The jury at the Woolrich Crown Court unanimously found Muktar Said Ibrahim, Yassin Omar, Ramzi Mohammad, and Hussain Osman [Wikipedia profiles] guilty of conspiracy to murder, and the judge said he would accept a majority verdict of at least 10-2 to convict two other defendants. The jury will continue deliberations with regard to the last two defendants Tuesday. The trial began [JURIST report] in January of this year.

The men argued that the bombs were not real, and were intended as a protest against the Iraq war. Prosecutors pointed out the bombs were similar to those used in the July 7 attacks, and said that, had they detonated properly, many people would have been killed. Evidence was also introduced that the men formulated their plan before the July 7 bombings and were not merely making a hasty copycat attempt. BBC News 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.