Task force recommends trials or military tribunals for 35 Guantanamo detainees: AP News
Task force recommends trials or military tribunals for 35 Guantanamo detainees: AP

[JURIST] A presidential task force has recommended that 35 Guantanamo Bay [JURIST news archives] prisoners face trial or military commissions [AP report], the Associated Press reported on Friday. Government officials said that the proceedings for these detainees will most likely be carried out on US soil. The 35 detainees named in the task force report include five detainees that are already scheduled to be tried in New York for the 9/11 attacks and six detainees who have been chosen to face military tribunals [JURIST reports]. Taking into consideration the detainees to be held without charge, the total number of detainees potentially slated for transfer to the US could reach 80. It is anticipated that at least some of these detainees will be held at Thomson Correctional Center (TCC) [DOC backgrounder] in Illinois, which the Obama administration announced in December it plans to buy [JURIST report].

Last week, the Associated Press reported that the Obama administration is considering bringing charges [JURIST report] in a Washington, DC, federal court against Guantanamo Bay detainee Riduan Isamuddin [BBC profile], the suspected planner of the 2002 Bali nightclub bombing [BBC backgrounder]. In October, US President Barack Obama signed [JURIST report] into law the Department of Homeland Security Appropriations Act of 2010 [HR 2892 materials], which allows for Guantanamo Bay detainees to be transferred to the US for prosecution. However, in December, House minority leader John Boehner expressed doubt [JURIST report] that the two pieces of legislation needed to bring detainees to Illinois will be passed. The Obama administration originally intended to close Guantanamo Bay by January 22, 2010, a deadline that expired on Friday.

THIS DAY @ LAW

UN Security Council called for Israeli withdrawal from territories occupied in Six Days' War

On November 22, 1967, the UN Security Council called for Israeli withdrawal from territories occupied during the Six Days' War, and for respect of the right of all States in the area to "live in peace within secure and recognized boundaries." Read Resolution 242, which remains a cornerstone of efforts to achieve peace in the Middle East.

President Kennedy assassinated, VP Lyndon Johnson sworn inin

On November 22, 1963, President John F. Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas, Texas. Later that day, Vice-President Lyndon Johnson was sworn in as the 36th President of the United States. Earl Warren, the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, was later tasked with leading a commission to investigate the assassination. President Johnson received the final report of the Warren Commission on September 24, 1964. Read the Warren Commission Report.