Yemen court sentences 6 Somali pirates to death News
Yemen court sentences 6 Somali pirates to death
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[JURIST] Yemen's Ministry of Defense [official website, in Arabic] announced Tuesday that a Yemeni court has sentenced six Somali pirates [JURIST news archive] to death and six additional pirates to 10-year jail sentences for the hijacking of a Yemeni oil tanker in April 2009. The convicted pirates must collectively pay 2 million Yemen riyals in compensatory damages to the Aden Refinery [corporate website, in Arabic], which owned the tanker. The refinery will be required to give a portion of the damages to the families of the two Yemeni crewman killed in the hijacking. Defense lawyers have appealed the verdict.

The international community is supporting actions taken against piracy. The UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) [office website] announced on Wednesday that the island nation of Seychelles will create a UN-supported center [JURIST report] to prosecute suspected pirates. The center will accept and try pirates captured by the European Union Naval Force Somalia (EU NAVFOR) [official website] off the coast of Somalia and surrounding areas. This will be the second such court established for the prosecution of pirates, following only Kenya. Last month, the UN Security Council approved a resolution [JURIST report] calling on member states to criminalize piracy under their domestic laws and urging Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon [official website] to consider an international tribunal for prosecuting piracy. The Security Council resolution came the same week the UN announced that a trust fund established to combat piracy will be funding five projects [UN News Centre report] aimed at piracy committed in the waters around Somalia.

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.