On January 4, 2010, the US Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit issued a ruling [PDF] upholding 9/11 conspirator Zacarias Moussaoui's life sentence. Moussaoui's attorneys appealed his conviction after he pleaded guilty to six conspiracy charges in April 2005. His defense team claimed that Moussaoui's rights were violated by an involuntary plea and the court's restriction of his counsel's access to statements made by other al Qaeda members denying Moussaoui's involvement in planning the 9/11 attacks. Moussaoui narrowly avoided the death penalty when one juror voted for a sentence of life imprisonment after concluding that Moussaoui played a "minor role" in planning the attacks. Learn more about the legal
On January 4, 2010, the Malaysian Home Ministry appealed a ruling by the Malaysian High Court that non-Muslims can use the word "Allah" as a translation for the word "God." Malay-Catholic newspaper The Herald had challenged the government's three-year ban on the practice in May 2008. Muslim groups argued that the use of the word "Allah," rather than "Lord" or "Turan" used by Catholic publications like The Herald, constituted an attempt to confuse Muslim readers. Flag of Malaysia Learn more about Malaysia from the JURIST news archive. Also on This Day at Law: Padilla sued author of 'torture memos' Serbia filed genocide suit against Croatia in ICJ