Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu, whose March arrest sparked nationwide protests, denies all the charges against him.
Published On 27 Oct 202527 Oct 2025
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A Turkish court has filed new charges against opposition leader Ekrem Imamoglu, whose arrest in March sparked mass antigovernment protests.
The move by prosecutors on Monday against the jailed Istanbul mayor stems from an investigation launched last week into alleged links to a businessman arrested in July for carrying out intelligence activities on behalf of foreign governments.
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The charges are part of what Imamoglu’s Republican People’s Party, or CHP, has labelled a long-running crackdown on the opposition.
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s government rejects this accusation and insists that Turkiye’s judiciary is independent and the charges and investigations are based squarely on the opposition’s involvement in corruption and other illegal activities.
Imamoglu’s arrest in March on corruption charges caused nationwide protests while he received a jail sentence in July for insulting and threatening the chief Istanbul prosecutor.
The state-run Anadolu news agency said Imamoglu – Erdogan’s main political rival – is suspected, among other things, of transferring personal data of Istanbul residents as part of an effort to secure international funding for his presidential campaign.
Imamoglu has denied all the charges, both in court and on social media.
“Such a slander, lie and conspiracy wouldn’t even cross the devil’s mind!” he wrote on X. “We are facing a shameful indecency that can’t be described with words.”
Imamoglu’s former campaign manager, Necati Ozkan, was also charged alongside Merdan Yanardag, editor-in-chief of the television news channel Tele1.
The channel, which is critical of the government, was seized by the state on Friday, citing the espionage accusations.
Waves of arrests
Hundreds of supporters rallied outside Istanbul’s main courthouse on Sunday as Imamoglu was questioned by prosecutors. It was the first time he had left Istanbul’s Marmara Prison on the outskirts of Istanbul in seven months.
Critics view his detention and the subsequent additional charges as part of a broader crackdown on the opposition, which made significant gains in last year’s local elections.
CHP mayors and municipalities have faced waves of arrests throughout the year on corruption-related charges.
Erdogan has denied accusations of political interference in the judiciary.
On Friday, an Ankara court dismissed a bid to oust Ozgur Ozel as leader of the CHP in a case centred on allegations of vote buying and procedural irregularities at the party’s 2023 congress.
Video appears to show mistakenly released hotel asylum seeker in Chelmsford
Police have launched a manhunt after a former asylum seeker who sexually assaulted a 14-year-old girl was mistakenly released from prison.
Ethiopian national Hadush Gerberslasie Kebatu, who arrived in the UK on a small boat, was jailed for 12 months over the attack in Epping, Essex, last month.
Prison sources said Kebatu was meant to be sent to an immigration detention centre ahead of a planned deportation. An investigation has been launched by the Prison Service, and an officer has been removed from discharging duties while it takes place.
Essex Police said “fast-paced enquiries have shown that the man boarded a London-bound train at Chelmsford Railway Station at 12:41 BST”.
Justice Secretary David Lammy said he was “appalled at the release in error at HMP Chelmsford”.
Speaking to the media, Lammy said Essex Police, the Metropolitan Police and British Transport Police were working together on the case and conducting a joint manhunt.
“All hands are on deck… to use all intelligence to get him out of this country,” he said.
Lammy said he was “livid on behalf of the public” about the accidental release of the sex offender and former asylum seeker Hadush Kebatu”.
He confirmed Kebatu had boarded a train at about lunchtime and was “at large in London”. He also said a prison officer had been suspended.
A “full and immediate investigation” into the circumstances surrounding the release has been launched. He said the situation was “very serious”.
Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer said Kebatu “must be caught and deported for his crimes”.
Essex Police
Kebatu’s arrest had sparked protests outside The Bell Hotel in Epping, where he had been living.
The following day, he encountered the same girl and tried to kiss her before sexually assaulting her. He also sexually assaulted a woman who had offered to help him create a CV to find work.
In September, after being found guilty of five offences, he was sentenced to 12 months and given a five-year sexual harm prevention order, which banned him from approaching or contacting any female.
During the trial, Kebatu gave his date of birth as December 1986, making him 38, but court records suggested he was 41.
He was also made to sign the Sex Offenders Register for 10 years.
Stuart Woodward/BBC
Essex Police said the man had boarded a train heading into London about midday
A Prison Service spokesperson said: “We are urgently working with police to return an offender to custody following a release in error at HMP Chelmsford.
“Public protection is our top priority, and we have launched an investigation into this incident.”
A spokesperson for Essex Police said it was informed by the prison services about “an error” to do with “the release of an individual” at 12:57.
“As a result of that, we have launched a search operation to locate them and are working closely with partner agencies,” they added.
“These fast-paced enquiries have shown that the man boarded a London-bound train at Chelmsford Railway Station at 12:41.
“We understand the concern the public would have regarding this situation and can assure you we have officers working to urgently locate and detain him.”
Writing in a post on X, Lammy said: “We are urgently working with the police to track him down, and I’ve ordered an urgent investigation.
“Kebatu must be deported for his crimes, not on our streets.”
Sir Keir said the mistaken release was “totally unacceptable”.
Writing on X, he added: “I am appalled that it has happened, and it’s being investigated.
“The police are working urgently to track him down, and my government is supporting them. This man must be caught and deported for his crimes.”
A drug dealer who organised a Russian-ordered arson attack on a warehouse providing aid to Ukraine has been sentenced to 17 years in prison.
Dylan Earl, 21, admitted a National Security Act offence over the attack on industrial units in Leyton, east London, on 20 March 2024.
He was jailed alongside five other men for their part in the plot.
An investigation by the Metropolitan Police’s Counter Terrorism Command found Earl, from Leicestershire, was working under the instruction of Russian mercenary Wagner Group, who are proscribed by the UK government as a terrorist organisation. The case is the first to be brought under the National Security Act 2023.
Georgian journalist Mzia Amaghlobeli, seen here in a court hearing in May, was awarded the Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought on Wednesday alongside Belarusian journalist Andrzej Poczobut (not pictured). File Photo by Zurab Tsertsvadze/EPA
Oct. 22 (UPI) — The European Parliament announced Wednesday it granted imprisoned journalists Andrzej Poczobut and Mzia Amaglobeli with its 2025 Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought as the two political prisoners sit in isolation for speaking up.
The France-based European Parliament awarded Andrzej Poczobut of Belarus and Mzia Amaglobeli from Georgia with the prize to honor “exceptional” people or organizations that defend human rights, fundamental freedoms and safeguard minority rights.
On Wednesday, EP President Roberta Metsola revealed the decision by parliament’s political group leaders in the plenary chamber.
Imprisoned journalists Andrzej Poczobut from Belarus and Mzia Amaglobeli from Georgia have been awarded the European Parliament’s 2025 Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought. pic.twitter.com/tUMF5q6ZjC— European Parliament (@Europarl_EN) October 22, 2025
“The courage of these journalists in speaking out against injustice, even behind bars, stands as a powerful symbol of freedom and democracy,” Metsola posted on X.
The Sakharov Prize named after Soviet physicist and political dissident Andrei Sakharov, since 1988, honors those who fight for “respect of international law, democracy and rule of law.”
Its 2024 laureates were Venezuelan political opposition leaders, including María Corina Machado who in 2025 was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. Nominations must be issued by at least 40 European Parliament members or by its political groups.
Poczobut and Amaglobeli were jointly nominated by the European People’s Party group, the European Conservatives and Reformists group, Lithuanian EP member Rasa Juknevičienė and 60 other colleagues.
Prize nominations were presented on Sept. 23 at a joint meeting of the EP’s foreign affairs and development committees in addition to its human rights subcommittee.
In August, scores of international human rights and journalism advocates joined to condemn the conviction and two-year prison sentence of independent Georgian journalist Mzia Amaghlobeli.
Amaghlobeli, notably, is Georgia’s first female political prisoner since its 1991 independence from the former Russian Soviet Union.
Andrzej Poczobut, a journalist and blogger from the Polish minority in Belarus, has been known for criticism of longtime Belarussian leader Alexander Lukashenko and his regime.
Poczobut, detained in 2021 and sentenced to eight years in a penal colony, has become a symbolic figure in the struggle for freedom and democracy in the country. His current condition is unknown and his family is denied any visits as the EP has called his his immediate and unconditional release.
The parliament granted its 2022 award to the people of Ukraine amid Russia’s full-scale arbitrary invasion of its neighboring country, and in 2024 to the late Jina Mahsa Amini and Iran’s Women, Life, Freedom Movement.
Other finalists included Franco-Algerian writer Boualem Sansal, the 2025 Budapest Pride events in Hungary, and the late American conservative activist Charlie Kirk.
Meanwhile, the award ceremony with its cash prize will take place December 16 in Strasbourg, France.
A parole hearing to decide whether to re-release the mother of Baby P, who was jailed over his death following months of abuse, has heard “extremely moving” victim statements from the child’s loved ones.
Tracey Connelly was jailed at the Old Bailey in 2009 for causing or allowing the death of her 17-month-old son Peter – known as Baby P – at their home in Tottenham, north London, on 3 August 2007.
The public hearing is being held to decide whether she can be re-released or if she can be moved to open conditions.
Sally Allbeury from the parole board panel told the hearing on Wednesday that it had heard statements by Peter’s loved ones in private about their concerns about parole being granted.
“Those statements told the panel about the ongoing impact on the authors’ of Peter’s death and their concerns about Ms Connelly’s potential release,” Ms Allbeury said.
“Each one has also requested in the event of Ms Connelly’s release that certain conditions be put in place to protect them.
“We found these statements extremely moving.
“There can be no doubt that Peter’s death has caused lifelong harm to those who loved him.”
The parole board ruled she was suitable for release in March that year – after hearing she was considered to be at “low risk of committing a further offence” and that probation officers and prison officials supported the plan.
This was despite the panel highlighting concerns over Connelly’s ability to manipulate and deceive, and hearing evidence of how she had become embroiled in prison romances and traded secret love letters with an inmate.
Then-justice secretary Dominic Raab appealed against the decision, but a judge rejected his bid to keep her behind bars.
She had previously been released on licence in 2013 but was recalled to prison in 2015 for breaching her parole conditions.
Three previous parole bids, in 2015, 2017 and 2019, were rejected.
Met Police
Tracey Connelly was jailed in 2009 for causing or allowing the death of her toddler son Peter
Peter was found dead in his cot in 2007 following months of violent abuse by Connolly, her boyfriend Steven Barker, and his brother, Jason Owen.
Connelly had admitted the offence of causing or allowing the death of her son and was handed a sentence of imprisonment for public protection with a minimum term of five years.
Barker and Owen were convicted of the same crime.
A series of reviews identified missed opportunities for officials to save Peter’s life had they reacted properly to warning signs.
Parole hearings are usually held in private, but a judge approved applications for Connelly’s review to be heard in public, concluding “there can be no doubt that there is a substantial public interest” in the case.
Metropolitan Police
Steven Barker was jailed in 2009 after being convicted of causing or allowing Baby P’s death
Parole hearings are usually held in private, but a judge approved applications for Connelly’s review to be heard in public, concluding “there can be no doubt that there is a substantial public interest” in the case.
The parole board received two applications for the review to be held in public, which described Connelly’s “landmark case” as “one of the most high-profile and devastating child protection failures in UK history”.
Claire Leveque, 24, died from stab wounds to her neck and chest
A man has been jailed for life after being found guilty of murdering his girlfriend in a hot tub in Shetland.
Aren Pearson, 41, stabbed 24-year-old Claire Leveque to death at his mother’s home in Sandness on 11 February last year.
Pearson denied murder and claimed in court that Ms Leveque had stabbed herself – but a jury found him guilty after a trial at the High Court in Edinburgh.
Judge Lord Arthurson said it was a crime of “exceptional depravity” and “feral butchery” and described Pearson’s evidence in court as “malicious” and “fabricated”.
He will have to serve a minimum of 25 years in prison before he is eligible for parole.
Police said Pearson had a “controlling and violent” relationship with Ms Leveque, and had attempted to degrade and abuse her before the murder.
“The level of violence Aren Pearson inflicted is truly horrifying,” said Det Insp Richard Baird.
Claire Leveque
Aren Pearson said Claire Leveque stabbed herself
Ms Leveque was stabbed more than 25 times on her neck and chest during the attack.
The couple, who are both from Canada, had moved to Scotland in 2023.
The trial was told that Pearson’s late mother Hazel Pearson, who died in May, had dialled 999 on the evening of the murder.
She told police that her son had walked into the kitchen and returned with a knife.
He stabbed himself in the neck and told her that he had hurt his girlfriend.
Ms Pearson then found Ms Leveque in the hot tub, which was in a shed at her home.
“The water was red with blood,” she told police.
“Claire was covered with blood. She had severe injuries to her face.”
Pearson drove his Porsche into the water
Ms Pearson also told detectives that her son had looked like “a zombie” after the attack.
During the 999 call, Pearson took the phone and confessed to the killing. He said he had stabbed his girlfriend about 40 times.
He also confessed to police officers at the crime scene and to a doctor while he was being treated in hospital.
However, giving evidence during the trial he claimed Ms Leveque had struck him, grabbed a knife and then jumped into the hot tub, where she stabbed herself four or five times.
Pearson claimed she had lost her temper after hearing him speak to her father Clint in Canada about how much alcohol she was drinking.
Police Scotland
Pearson was detained after the fatal attack
After being detained by police, Pearson was taken to the Gilbert Bain Hospital in Lerwick.
The jury heard that he said he had stabbed himself in the neck, consumed brake fluid and driven his Porsche car into the water.
A&E consultant Dr Caroline Heggie treated him for two days following his arrest.
Prosecutor Margaret Barron asked Dr Heggie if Pearson had said something that stuck with her.
She replied: “He said: ‘I’ve been trying to get rid of her for a while’.”
Lord Arthurson said the evidence in the case had been “substantial and compelling”.
‘Quite unimaginable violence’
He told Pearson: “Your much younger girlfriend – your victim in this case – was isolated and vulnerable in Sandness.
“You had from almost the outset of her arrival there subjected her to a cruel campaign of violence and coercive control.”
The judge said Ms Leveque had died “a squalid death of quite unimaginable multifaceted violence”.
“This was a sustained episode of feral butchery,” he added.
“You have sought to blame Ms Leveque for your own assaults against her, and you have, in a grave insult to her memory and to her bereaved family, put forward a defence that Ms Leveque inflicted these catastrophic injuries upon herself – a defence that the jury have unanimously rejected.”
My daughter texted me ‘I love you’ every night
Ms Leveque’s father Clint said his daughter had been “happy, positive and so friendly to everybody”.
Speaking to the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC), Mr Leveque said his daughter was “a typical daddy’s girl”.
“My daughter texted me every night: ‘I love you dad’. Every night of her life,” he said.
“There’s nothing negative that anybody could possibly say about her.”
Mr Leveque said his daughter, who grew up in Westloch, Alberta, had a love of adventure.
Speaking after the verdict, Ms Leveque’s cousin Hope Ingram described her as “a bubbly, fun girl who brought life to every room that she walked into”.
“I miss her terribly,” she said
“It’s so nice that we can now move forward and just remember Claire instead of thinking of this awful incident.”
‘Hard to comprehend’
She thanked everyone who had helped get justice for her cousin.
Ms Ingram said she hoped that as a result, other victims of domestic violence would be able to “move forward and come forward”.
Hope Saunders, who still lives in Canada, was a close friend of Ms Leveque.
“It’s sickening that someone so bright and so young and so beautiful could have her life taken away from her in the flash of a moment like that,” she said.
“It is hard to comprehend and it gives you that sick feeling in your stomach, and her being so far away in the Shetland Islands breaks my heart even more.
“I don’t want to even think about how scared she might have been in that moment.”
Andrea Manson, the convenor of Shetland Islands Council, said she hoped that the guilty verdict brought some closure to Ms Leveque’s family.
“In a normally safe and caring community the tragic loss of a beautiful young lass is a tragedy that’s being felt by everyone in Shetland,” she said.
WASHINGTON — Chicago is emerging as the latest testing ground for President Trump’s domestic deployment of military force as hundreds of National Guard troops were expected to descend on the city.
The president said Wednesday that Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker and Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson should be jailed for failing to support federal agents, and continued to paint a dark and violent picture of both Chicago and Portland, Ore., where Trump is trying to send federal troops but has so far been stonewalled by the courts.
“It’s so bad,” Trump said at the White House on Wednesday. “It’s so crazy. It’s like the movies … where you have these bombed-out cities and these bombed-out people. It’s worse than that. I don’t think they can make a movie as bad.”
Pritzker this week characterized Trump’s depiction of Chicago as “deranged” and untrue. Federal agents are making the community “less safe,” the governor said, noting that residents do not want “Donald Trump to occupy their communities” and that people of color are fearful of being profiled during immigration crackdowns.
Trump has taken issue with Democrats in Illinois and Oregon who are fighting his efforts, and has twice said this week that he is willing to use the Insurrection Act of 1807 if local leaders and the courts try to stop him. White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller also contended this week that a court ruling blocking Trump’s deployments to Portland amounted to a “legal insurrection” as well as “an insurrection against the laws and Constitution of the United States.”
In a televised interview Monday, Miller was asked about his remarks and asked whether the administration would abide by court rulings that stop the deployment of troops to Illinois and Portland. Miller responded by saying the president has “plenary authority” before going silent midsentence — a moment that the host said may have been a technical issue.
“Plenary authority” is a legal term that indicates someone has limitless power.
The legality of deployments to Portland and Chicago will face scrutiny in two federal courts Thursday.
The U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals will hear an appeal by the Trump administration in the Portland matter. A Trump-appointed judge, Karin Immergut, found the White House had not only violated the law in activating the Oregon National Guard, but it also had further defied the law by attempting to circumvent her order, sending the California National Guard in its place.
That three-judge appellate panel consists of two Trump appointees and one Clinton appointee.
Meanwhile, in Illinois, U.S. District Judge April Perry declined Monday to block the deployment of National Guard members on an emergency basis, allowing a buildup of forces to proceed. She will hear arguments Thursday on the legality of the operation.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom, one of Trump’s top political foes, has joined the fight against the president’s deployment efforts.
The Trump administration sent 14 members of California’s National Guard to Illinois to train troops from other states, according to court records filed Tuesday. Federal officials have also told California they intend to extend Trump’s federalization of 300 members of the state’s Guard through next year.
“Trump is going on a cross-country crusade to sow chaos and division,” Newsom said Wednesday. “His actions — and those of his Cabinet — are against our deeply held American values. He needs to stop this illegal charade now.”
In anticipation of the deployment, Pritzker warned that if the president’s efforts went unchecked, it would put the United States on a “the path to full-blown authoritarianism.”
The Democratic governor also said the president’s calls to jail him were “unhinged” and said Trump was a “wannabe dictator.”
“There is one thing I really want to say to Donald Trump: If you come for my people, you come through me. So come and get me,” Pritzker said in an interview with MSNBC.
As tensions grew in Chicago, Trump hosted an event at the White House to address how he intends to crack down on antifa, a nebulous left-wing anti-facist movement that he recently designated as a domestic terrorist organization.
At the event, the president said many of the people involved in the movement are active in Chicago and Portland — and he once again attacked the local and state leaders in both cities and states.
“You can say of Portland and you can say certainly of Chicago, it is not lawful what they are doing,” Trump said about the left-wing protests. “They are going to have to be very careful.”
Johnson, the mayor of Chicago, slammed Trump for saying he should be jailed for his actions.
“This is not the first time Trump has tried to have a Black man unjustly arrested,” Johnson posted on social media. “I’m not going anywhere.”
Pritzker continued to attack Trump’s efforts into the evening, accusing the president of “breaching the Constitution and breaking the law.”
“We need to stand up together and speak up,” the governor said on social media.
Times staff writer Melody Gutierrez in Sacramento contributed to this report.
A FOOTBALL league assistant referee who preyed on teenage girls has been jailed for 13-and-a-half years.
Gareth Viccars, 47, was locked up behind bars for a string of child sexual abuse offences involving three 15-year-old schoolgirls.
Viccars previously pleaded guilty to 16 counts, including sexual communications with a child, meeting with a child following sexual grooming, causing or inciting a child to engage in sexual activity and engaging in sexual activity with a child.
The offences spanned three years between November 2021 and October 2024 and involved three girls aged 15, Snaresbrook Crown Court previously heard.
On Thursday, Viccars was jailed for 13 and a half years with a further three and a half years on extended licence at the same court.
Viccars was also placed on the sex offenders’ register for life.
Addressing the referee, Judge Caroline English said: “You did deliberately target these three young victims and you did so on account of their ages at the material time.
“I am therefore quite satisfied that in all three cases you preyed upon young women that were vulnerable.
Viccars was an assistant referee at the time of offending.
He has worked as an official for League One clashes in the EFL alongside his day job as an estate agent.
The Professional Game Match Officials Limited (PGMOL), the organisation responsible for managing all Premier League and EFL matches across England, said he was suspended “as soon as the allegations came to light”.
Viccars was not considered for appointments after his initial suspension.
The PGMOL has since removed him from the organisation’s list, it is believed.
It is understood the former assistant referee did not officiate during the last season.
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The judge said that despite Viccars’s guilty pleas and expressions of remorse, there remained a lack of acknowledgment from the defendant that he had “a sexual interest in female children”.
This interest was clear from the contents of messages sent to his victims and a statement from Viccars’s ex-girlfriend, which said he used to ask her to dress up in school uniform.
Viccars, who appeared in the dock wearing a dark green sweatshirt, nodded as the judge read out her sentencing remarks.
The prosecutor Charlotte Newell KC told the court Viccars had met his victims online through the messaging app Snapchat, telling one girl that talking on WhatsApp was “too risky”.
She said Viccars had lied and told one of his victims he was a teacher when they first started communicating and was aware that she was 15 years old.
The court heard he had abused another of his victims over a period of several years – taking her to football matches and told others he was “mentoring” her.
A scrapbook chronicling the two’s “relationship” that was made by the teenager, and given to Viccars, was handed to police and formed part of the evidence against him, the prosecutor said.
In court, Viccars watched the victim read out an impact statement during which she said he had been her “world” and that she had trusted him “completely” for almost three years.
Addressing her abuser, she said he had won her over with “kind words” and “attention” and had isolated her “in plain sight”.
“Now I know what you really wanted was someone young enough to manipulate,” she added.
After the sentencing, the Met Police said they believed there may be other victims of Viccars as he had been “spamming hundreds of girls on Snapchat”.
DCI Ross Morrell, who led the Met’s investigation, said: “He began with a profile of ‘sorry I think I’ve added the wrong person’, and then he would go in to lie, manipulate them, and then go on to abuse them.
“If anyone thinks they’ve been a victim, then please contact 101, reference this appeal.
“You will be entitled to specialist care, specialist advice, and you will be believed.”
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Gareth Viccars was jailed on Thursday at Snaresbrook Crown Court for a string of child sex offencesCredit: PA
A 32-YEAR-OLD man who was breastfed by a 60-year-old woman has been jailed.
Michael Jones, of Caernarfon, Wales, was sentenced to 15 months behind bars after he reportedly became “obsessed” with the woman and locked onto her as a way of “getting back at his mother”.
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Jones, of Caernarfon, Wales, was sentenced to 15 months behind barsCredit: North Wales Police
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Caernarfon where Michael Jones was breastfedCredit: Getty
Yesterday, Caernarfon Crown Court heard that Jones was handed a restraining order after assaulting the woman but breached the order three times.
On one of these occasions, he “breastfed” from her for 10 minutes, the court heard.
Another time, prosecutor Amy Edwards said the woman saw Jones looking “tired” on a cycle path so left him a bottle of water.
She said the pair spoke online that evening and arranged to meet up in a park in Caernarfon later that summer.
The court heard the woman told Jones she wanted to end the relationship, insisting it was a “mother and son” dynamic.
Edwards said Jones then became emotional, reportedly telling the 60-year-old he had a “hatred towards women” and an “odd fascination” with women’s breasts.
She said they met again a few days later and kissed “consensually”.
The woman then allowed Jones to “breast feed for 10 minutes”.
Jones told the 60-year-old he engaged with women her age as a way of “getting back” at his mum, the court heard.
Matters escalated, however, when Jones later called the woman up claiming he was “starving”.
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When she arrived at his flat, he initially didn’t let her leave.
She said the experience left her so scared, her health deteriorated as a result.
She told the court: “I know he’s obsessed with me. I know from experience that the obsession is dangerous.”
Defence lawyer Dafydd Roberts, said the woman was “more prepared to have contact than she admits” though conceded Jones does have “attachment problems”.
Roberts said: “He knows he should not have been having contact with her but he could not stop himself.”
Judge Nicola Jones concluded the woman had been “very complicit” in the course of events.
She told the defendant that while he had mental health problems, he had breached his restraining order three time and would therefore face time behind bars.
Mohammed Zahid was known as Boss Man and attacked the girls from when they were aged 13
A grooming gang ringleader who raped two schoolgirls in Rochdale has been jailed for 35 years.
Mohammed Zahid, 65, known as Boss Man, gave the girls from the age of 13 free underwear from his market stall in return for the expectation of regular sex with him and his friends.
The father-of-three, who showed a “chilling disregard” for the girls, was one of seven men convicted in June of committing a raft of sexual offences between 2001 and 2006.
Mushtaq Ahmed, 67 , Kasir Bashir, 50, Mohammed Shahzad, 44, Naheem Akram, 49, Nisar Hussain, 41 and Roheez Khan, 39, were also received lengthy prison sentences at Manchester’s Minshull Street Crown Court.
The court heard how the girls were sexually exploited in filthy flats, car parks, alleyways and disused warehouses in the Greater Manchester town.
Referred to as Girl A and Girl B, they were treated as “sex slaves” and expected to “have sex with the men whenever and wherever they wanted”.
Both girls had “deeply troubled home lives” and were plied with drugs, alcohol and cigarettes and given places to stay by the men, the court was told.
GMP
Mohammed Shahzad, Mushtaq Ahmed and Kasir Bashir were found guilty following a trial
The prosecution said the girls were abused, degraded and then “discarded” by the paedophiles, who worked either at the market or as taxi drivers.
Girl A told the jury she may have been preyed on by hundreds of men as her phone number was passed around, adding “there was that many it was hard to keep count”.
She told local children’s services in 2004 that she was “hanging around” with groups of older men, drinking and smoking cannabis, the court heard.
GMP
Nisar Hussain, Roheez Khan and Naheem Akram were also convicted
Girl B, who was living in a children’s home when she came into contact with the men on the market, said police and social workers knew what was going on but “weren’t concerned enough to do anything about it”.
“It was in my file, when I looked it up. I read it,” the woman, now aged in her 30s, told the court.
“I was picked up by the police for loitering and prostituting from the age of 10.”
Social services and police have previously apologised for their past failings regarding the girls.
A DRUG kingpin arrested while partying at an Ibiza nightclub for a £20million drug ring he ran with his ex-girlfriend has been jailed.
The couple from Merseyside plotted to smuggle over 300 kilos of drugs in two lorries in the summer of 2022.
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Eddie Burton was jailed for 19 years for attempting to import drugs into the UKCredit: NCA
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Glam ex-girlfriend, Sian Banks, was also jailedCredit: Facebook
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Some of the drugs were concealed in a modified fuel tankCredit: NCA
Eddie Burton, 23, from Liverpool was jailed for 19 years at Canterbury Crown Court on Friday, September 26.
His glam ex-girlfriend, Sian Banks, 25, was sentenced to five years in February of this year.
Burton had been living in mainland Europe in 2022 when two lorries were intercepted at Dover Port containing heroin, cocaine and ketamine.
The first of those lorries was stopped by Border Force on July 3 and the second was intercepted the following month on August 12.
Overall, officers discovered a whopping 307 kilos with an estimated street value of £20million.
Burton’s fingerprints were found on both the drug packages as well as the modified fuel tank that was used to conceal them.
The National Crime Agency (NCA) launched a huge manhunt for Burton who was living between the Netherlands and Spain after he left the UK in 2021.
Burton was put in cuffs by Spanish police in August 2023 at the Pacha nightclub in Ibiza for unrelated drug dealing offences.
He had been using an alias to avoid being caught at the time but was extradited to Germany and charged with drug offences before he was returned to the UK in March last year.
Following that, Burton pleaded guilty to four counts of importing Class A and B drugs.
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According to the MailOnline, Burton was involved in drugs from an early age and started dealing them at 10 years old.
Those who knew him said he was engaging in serious criminal activity while he was still at primary school and weren’t surprised by his life’s trajectory.
Whereas Banks had a love of luxury holidays and high-end goods with a fondness for men with money, according to those who knew her.
She was arrested in December 2023 before she pleaded guilty to seven charges including importing Class A drugs and money laundering earlier this year.
She had visited Burton in the Netherlands and Spain on a monthly basis between June 2022 and October 2023.
Her phone had also revealed that she had twice smuggled cocaine and ketamine into her luggage after visiting Burton in Amsterdam in August 2022.
Messages were also uncovered between the pair two days after the first lorry was intercepted.
They showed that Banks had flown to the Netherlands and helped prepare the first shipment of narcotics.
One of the messages to Burton revealed Banks was concerned her fingerprints were on the bags of ketamine.
He replied: “You’ve never been nicked or had ye prints took anyway so doesn’t matter.”
It was also discovered that banks had sold scam Covid-19 travel documents during the pandemic.
NCA Senior Investigating Officer John Turner said: “Burton, with Banks’ help, attempted to smuggle huge quantities of harmful drugs into the UK, believing he could operate with impunity overseas.
“Banks held a crucial role in the criminal enterprise, laundering the illicit profits and acting as the UK-based facilitator for the multi-million pound drug importations.
“The drugs, had they reached their final destination, would have had a destructive impact on our communities, fuelling violence and exploiting vulnerable people throughout the supply chain.”
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The couple had attempted to import over 300 kilos of drugsCredit: NCA
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Burton started dealing drugs at the age of 10Credit: Merseyside Police
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Banks was also discovered to be selling doctored Covid-19 travel documents during the pandemicCredit: Facebook
Egyptian-British activist Alaa Abdel Fattah (C) embraces his mother, Laila Soueif, (L) and his sister Sanaa Seif (R) at home in Cairo, Egypt, on Tuesday after his release following a presidential pardon by Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi. Photo by EPA
Sept. 23 (UPI) — Human rights activist Alaa Abdel Fattah was reunited with his family late Monday, after more than five years’ imprisonment, according to his family and supporting organizations.
Fattah, who holds both British and Egyptian citizenship, has spent a collective of more than 10 years behind Egyptian bars and was widely considered the Middle Eastern country’s most prominent political prisoner.
Fattah, along with five others, received pardons from President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi on Monday, according to state media.
Mona Seif, one of Fattah’s two sisters, took to X to broadcast updates on the situation, starting with hearing the news, then preparing to leave work and finally posting pictures of her brother embracing family members.
“An exceptionally kind day,” she said. “Alaa is free.”
Reporters Without Borders, which has campaigned for his release, said in a statement that Fattah was reunited with his mother, Laila Soueif, and other sister Sanaa Seif late Monday.
“We are deeply relieved to see Alaa Abdel Fattah finally walk free,” Fiona O’Brien, RSF UK director, said in a statement.
“What he and his family have been through is unimaginable: he should never have gone to prison, and his family should never have had to mount a years-long international campaign to free him. His pardon and release must mark a definitive end to their ordeal and, after so many lost years, he must be allowed to travel to the United Kingdom to be reunited with his son Khaled.”
Fattah, who rose to international recognition during the 2011 Egyptian revolution, has been repeatedly arrested in Egypt over the years.
In 2013, three months after el-Sisi’s coup, he was arrested, charged with the organization of a protest and then sentenced to five years behind bars.
He was released in 2019, but was then arrested shortly afterward.
He was convicted and sentenced to five years in prison in 2021 on the charges of “spreading false news,” according to the U.S. State Department. Reporters Without Borders said he was charged with an arbitrary offense of spreading false news for sharing a Facebook post about torture in Egyptian prisons.
The Free Alaa website states his sentence was to have ended last September of last year but he was still detained by the authorities.
“Alaa Abdel Fattah is a prisoner of conscience who was targeted for his peaceful activism,” Erika Guevara Rosas, Amnesty International’s senior director for research, advocacy, policy and campaigns, said in a statement.
“His pardon will not erase the ordeal he has endured in detention over the past six years. The Egyptian authorities should follow up on today’s decision by releasing all those solely detained for exercising their human rights and allowing them to reunite with their loved ones.”
A BRITISH grandad has revealed how he was shackled to a wife-and-child killer during his horror months locked up by the Taliban.
Peter Reynolds and his wife Barbie, 76, were arrested in February and dragged through ten different jails in Afghanistan, sometimes held in cages and sometimes split apart, with weeks spent in solitary confinement.
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Peter Reynolds, pictured with his wife Barbie, was shackled to a murderer during his imprisonment by the Taliban.Credit: Sky News
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Peter holds the hands of his daughter Sarah Entwistle after landing at the airport in Doha on FridayCredit: AFP
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Peter hugs his daughterCredit: AFP
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The couple, aged 80 and 76, have received no explanation for their imprisonmentCredit: Supplied
Peter, who spent his 80th birthday behind bars instead of celebrating with his family in the US, told The Sunday Times: “We felt huge powerlessness.
“We were told we were guests. But when I was taken to court, I had my ankles and hands cuffed together with murderers and rapists.”
At one point, the grandfather found himself shackled to a man who had murdered his own wife and three children.
The couple’s release came after months of behind-the-scenes mediation led by Qatar, whose diplomats in Kabul arranged medication, doctors and calls with their family.
Footage showed the pair smiling as they finally boarded a flight out of Afghanistan.
They had lived in Afghanistan since 2007, running a community project called Rebuild.
They were among the few foreigners who chose to remain after the Taliban seized back power four years ago, settling in the mountainous Bamiyan region — better known for the giant Buddhas destroyed by the regime in 2001.
The couple, who first married in Kabul in 1970, insisted they had lived peacefully for years without trouble from the authorities.
I lived with Taliban for year secretly filming bloodthirsty terrorists’ horror secrets… then orders were sent to kill me
Barbie described watching her husband struggle into a police truck with his hands and ankles chained as the “worst moment.”
The pair endured months of solitary confinement, a basement cell with no windows, and illness from “oily and salty” prison food.
Meals were scarce and left them sick. Barbie, who suffers from anaemia, grew weaker by the day.
Peter, who has a heart condition, often went without the beta blockers he relies on after a mini-stroke last year.
He is believed to have suffered a silent heart attack while in custody.
At one stage they were transferred to the Taliban’s intelligence HQ and locked in an underground cell, cut off from sunlight and phones.
UN human rights experts later warned their health was deteriorating so rapidly that they were at risk of “irreparable harm or even death.”
The couple insist they had done nothing wrong.
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They moved to Afghanistan in 2007, where they ran a training project
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Peter and Barbie Reynolds were scooped up in February and thrown into a brutal prison
The Taliban later claimed they had “violated Afghan laws” but gave no details.
And a search of their home and staff turned up nothing.
They were originally detained alongside their American friend Faye Hall, who was freed in March after a court order.
But the Reynoldses remained locked up for another five months with no explanation.
At one point, relatives back in Britain said they were “pretty frustrated” after repeated pleas to Taliban officials went ignored.
Back in Britain, the couple are exhausted but jubilant.
Barbie wants salad and Marmite, while Peter wants baked beans.
But most of all, they want time with the grandchildren they feared they’d never hug again.
“It is a mystery how or why we have been released,” said Peter.
“There’s a lot to process. I’m looking forward to listening to our family’s narrative of all that has unfolded in the last eight months.”
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Peter and Barbie arriving at Heathrow AirportCredit: Reuters
A KILLER gunman has been jailed after shooting a prison officer dead.
Elias Morgan, 35, murdered Lenny Scott after the prison guard exposed his affair with a female officer.
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Elias Morgan (pictured) shot Lenny Scott dead outside of a gymCredit: PA
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Lenny (pictured) exposed an affair between Morgan and a prison guardCredit: MEN Media
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The horrifying crime was caught on videoCredit: Unpixs
Morgan attacked Lenny, 33, outside of a gym in on February 8, 2024.
Lenny, a father of three, worked at HMP Altcourse and had previously confiscated Morgan’s phone while he was incarcerated.
Upon taking the phone, he discovered that Morgan has having an affair with a prison guard – prompting the 35-year-old to begin plotting his murder.
Lenny was shot six times by Morgan and was left for dead.
Today, Morgan was jailed for life with a minimum term of 45 years.
The terrifying shooting was caught on film, by a CCTV camera near to the gym.
In the video, Lenny can be seen leaving the building with four others while a sinister man – dressed in a high-vis jacket – approaches.
The gunman can be seen hiding behind a car, before calmly raising his gun and opening fire.
Six shots can be heard before the shooter hops onto an electric bike and heads for a getaway van.
Morgan was found guilty of murder, following a lengthy trial at Preston Crown Court.
He will be spending 45 years behind bars without parole
Man, 50, killed in drive-by shooting outside petrol station as cops release CCTV in hunt for car ‘with false plates’
Meanwhile, his friend Anthony Cleary, 29, was found not guilty of murder and manslaughter in court.
Jurors heard that Morgan had been having an affair with prison officer Sarah Williams and that he had offered Lenny £1,500 to “lose” the phone which contained evidence of the affair.
Four years later, after Morgan left prison
After that, Morgan began issuing “powerfully made” threats to stop the information getting out.
At the time, Morgan allegedly said: “I’ll bide my time, but I promise I will get you.”
Four days after the phone was seized, Lenny phoned 101 to tell police that a car had been “sat outside my house all weekend”.
When asked by the operator about who was threatening him, Lenny replied: “Elias Morgan. He’s described my family and me to a tee, described my house.”
After Morgan was found guilty of killing Lenny, Wendy Logan – deputy head of CPS North West’s complex casework unit – described the shooter as “cold-blooded” and evil.
She said: “Lenny Scott was a devoted father who had bravely upheld his duty when working as a prison officer by reporting an illicit phone he found in Elias Morgan’s cell in 2020.
“He did so in the face of attempts at bribery and also threats and intimidation by Morgan – and his commitment to public service will not be forgotten.
“Morgan – driven by revenge and believing he was above the law – carried out a cold-blooded murder.
“We were determined to deliver justice and see Morgan brought to book for his evil crime – and our case set out in clear terms how he planned and carried out his callous act.
“Our thoughts remain with Lenny’s family – particularly his three young children – and all those who cared for him as they deal with his loss.”
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Lenny had told police that he was worried about his family’s safetyCredit: Lancashire Police
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Morgan and Anthony Cleary were both found guilty in courtCredit: Lancashire Police
New Delhi, India – The Indian government tabled a new bill earlier this week in parliament under which a prime minister, state chief minister or other federal or state minister can be removed from office if they are facing criminal investigations – even before they are convicted.
The draft law proposed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) mandates the automatic removal of elected officials if they are detained for 30 consecutive days on charges carrying a minimum sentence of five years.
Even as Amit Shah, India’s home minister who is widely seen as Modi’s deputy, presented the bill in parliament, members of the opposition ripped apart legislative papers and hurled them at Shah, before the house was suspended amid chaos.
The opposition, strengthened in the 2024 national election in which the BJP lost its majority and was forced to turn to smaller allies to stay in power, has slammed the bill as an example of “undemocratic” weaponising of laws against dissent.
Meanwhile, the Indian government says the proposed law will rein in corrupt and criminal public representatives.
So, is the proposed law authoritarian or democratic? What’s behind the opposition’s allegations against the Modi government? Or, as some experts argue, is it all a trap?
What’s the bill proposing?
The Modi government tabled the Constitution (One Hundred and Thirtieth Amendment) Bill, 2025, in parliament on Wednesday.
As per the amendment, an elected leader would automatically lose their post if they are arrested and detained for 30 consecutive days on charges carrying a minimum sentence of five years.
The bill also includes a provision for reappointment, allowing leaders to return to their posts if they secure bail or are acquitted.
The government argues that the measure is a step towards reinforcing accountability and public trust, arguing that those facing serious criminal charges should not continue in constitutional office.
The amendment has been referred to a joint parliamentary committee – a panel consisting of legislators from both the government and opposition parties – for its deliberations, following opposition protests.
Arvind Kejriwal, leader of the Aam Admi Party, left, leaves in a car after a court extended his custody for four more days, in New Delhi, India, March 28, 2024. Kejriwal was Delhi’s chief minister when he was arrested in March 2024, and did not resign for almost six months after, alleging the case was politically motivated [Dinesh Joshi/AP Photo]
What’s the opposition saying?
Opposition leaders have alleged that the proposed amendment could be misused by the Modi government against critics and political rivals.
That risk, they say, is especially high since law enforcement agencies that come under the federal government only need to arrest and press serious charges against opposition members, and keep them in custody for 30 days – without worrying about actually proving those charges in a court of law.
Manish Tewari, MP from the opposition Congress party, said that “the bill is against the principle of presumption of innocence” until proven guilty.
Asaduddin Owaisi, another opposition MP from Hyderabad city in southern India, said this law would be used to topple adversarial state governments.
Critics have also pointed to how, under India’s constitution, state governments have the primary responsibility for maintaining law and order. The proposed law, they say, upends that principle.
Applying this law to state leaders undermines India’s federal structure, he said, noting that this weakens the people’s right to choose governments.
“The bill would change the federal contract in fundamental ways, including balance of power between centre and states, giving the centre enormous leverage to sabotage elected governments – and, of course, to the space for oppositional politics,” said Asim Ali, a political observer based in New Delhi.
Are the opposition’s allegations founded?
Since 2014, when Modi came to power in New Delhi, the opposition has alleged that the government has increasingly used agencies like the Enforcement Directorate (ED), tasked with fighting financial crimes, and the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), the country’s premier investigative body, to target rival politicians.
In March 2023, opposition parties petitioned in India’s top court against “a clear pattern of using investigative agencies … to target, debilitate and in fact crush the entire political opposition and other vocal citizens”.
The petition noted that since 2014, 95 percent of cases taken up by the CBI and the ED have been against politicians from the opposition. That’s a 60 percentage point and 54 percentage point rise, respectively, from the days of the previous Congress-led government.
In parliament, 46 percent of current members face criminal cases, with 31 percent of them charged with serious crimes like murder, attempt to murder, kidnapping and crimes against women.
In the run-up to the 2024 general election, investigative agencies had arrested multiple opposition leaders, including Delhi’s Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and his deputy, Manish Sisodia. The ED also arrested Hemant Soren, just hours after he resigned as the chief minister of the eastern state of Jharkhand, on accusations of corruption.
In the last 12 years of BJP rule in India, at least 12 sitting opposition ministers have been detained and jailed for more than 30 days – nine of them from Delhi and the eastern state of West Bengal.
Lawmakers from India’s opposition Congress and other parties hold a banner as they march against the Narendra Modi-led government, alleging that Indian democracy is in danger, during a protest outside India’s parliament in New Delhi, India, Friday, March 24, 2023 [Altaf Qadri/AP Photo]
Is this a distraction?
Some political observers and the Modi government’s critics say yes.
A constitutional amendment in India requires a two-thirds majority in both houses of the parliament, which the BJP and its allies lack.
Modi’s government currently survives with the support of the BJP’s alliance partners, after it fell short of a majority in the 2024 national election.
In recent weeks, the Modi government has faced mounting opposition criticism over a controversial revision of electoral rolls ahead of a crucial state election, allegations of vote theft, and heat over foreign policy challenges as India battles 50 percent tariffs from the United States under President Donald Trump.
It is against that backdrop that the bill – which Ali, the political observer, described as “authoritarian” yet “symbolic” in nature – is significant, say experts.
“Even if the bill does not become a law, it will anyway force a showdown to make opposition parties vote against the bill,” Ali said, “so that they can use that as ammunition against them in [election] campaigning.”
Since floating the bill, Modi, his government and the BJP have been accusing critics of being sympathetic to criminals in politics.
On Friday, speaking at a rally in election-bound Bihar state, Modi referred to Kejriwal’s refusal for months after his arrest on money laundering charges to quit from the Delhi chief minister’s post.
“Some time ago, we saw how files were being signed from jail and how government orders were given from jail. If leaders have such an attitude, how can we fight corruption?” Modi said.
Rasheed Kidwai, a political analyst, said that while the bill is draconian and could be misused, Modi’s party, for now, thinks it can help them consolidate urban, middle-class votes for the upcoming election in Bihar.
“The opposition is in a bind because public opinion is against corruption,” he said. “It’s a double-edged sword.”
Closing arguments are due to begin in the national security trial of Jimmy Lai, 77, a fierce critic of China’s Communist Party.
United States President Donald Trump has renewed his promise to “save” jailed Hong Kong tycoon Jimmy Lai, who is on trial for alleged national security crimes over his pro-democracy activism and antipathy towards China’s Communist Party.
“I’m going to do everything I can to save him. I’m going to do everything … His name has already entered the circle of things that we’re talking about, and we’ll see what we can do,” Trump told Fox News Radio in the US.
Trump’s remarks came as closing arguments in Lai’s high-profile trial.
Closing arguments have been pushed from Friday to Monday after Lai’s lawyer said he had experienced heart palpitations.
The delay marks the second in as many days, after Hong Kong courts were closed due to bad weather.
Trump previously pledged to rescue Lai during an interview last October, just weeks before his election as president, and had said he would “100 percent get him out”.
Lai is one of the most prominent Hong Kongers to be charged under the city’s draconian 2020 national security law, and his cause has made international headlines.
The 77-year-old is a longtime opponent of China’s Communist Party thanks to his ownership of Apple Daily, a now-shuttered pro-democracy tabloid newspaper.
Thank you, President Trump, for your support for Jimmy Lai at this critical time.
“I’m going to do everything I can to save [Jimmy Lai]. I’m going to do everything…His name has already entered the circle of things that we’re talking about, and we’ll see what we can do. I… pic.twitter.com/EmscQHYQmX
He is facing two counts of “colluding with foreign forces” and a separate charge of sedition in the long-running national security trial that began in December 2023.
If found guilty, he could spend the rest of his life in prison. He has always protested his innocence.
Lai was first arrested in 2020, just months after Beijing imposed the new national security law on Hong Kong, which criminalised the city’s pro-democracy movement and categorised public protests as acts of secession, subversion and terrorism.
The law was later expanded in 2024 to include further crimes such as espionage and sabotage.
Lai has been in detention continuously since December 2020 and is serving separate prison sentences for participating in a banned candlelight vigil and committing “fraud” on an office lease agreement.
He has spent more than 1,600 days in solitary confinement, according to the United Kingdom-based Hong Kong Watch, despite his age and health complications.
Lai was also denied the lawyer of his choice during trial and access to independent medical care.
FORMER Premier League star Ronnie Stam has been jailed for SEVEN YEARS after being found guilty of drug smuggling.
The former Wigan Athletic ace was charged with conspiring to smuggle more than TWO TONNES of cocaine into his homeland.
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Former Wigan star Ronnie Stam has been jailed for drug smugglingCredit: REUTERS
The street value of the cocaine, which was set to arrive from South America, was a whopping £48.6MILLION.
Stam was facing a total of 13 years behind bars as prosecutors deemed him to be a major player in the operation.
But the 41 years has been handed a seven-year custodial sentence instead.
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A TEEN boy who tortured, killed and dismembered two kittens with a girl in a warped bid to reduce his urge to kill a human has been locked up.
The depraved pair used rope to tie up the defenceless animals before “mutilating” them.
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The teens were captured on CCTV carrying the animals
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They later fled the scene after killing the animals
One of the kittens was found cut open on the ground in Ruislip, North West London, while the other was hanging from a tree.
Chillingly, the boy, 17, wrote how he “really wanted to murder someone” and killed cats to “reduce my urges”.
He also made a number of harrowing searches about sacrificing animals to Satan.
The boy has been detained for 12 months after pleading guilty to causing unnecessary suffering to the protected animals by “mutilating and killing” them.
His co-defendant will be sentenced for the same charge this afternoon.
The teens, who legally can’t be named, also admitted one count of possession of a knife.
Highbury Corner Magistrates’ Court was told the horror unfolded on May 3.
Footage released by police showed the girl, 16, and 17-year-old boy strolling through a residential street.
The boy could be seen clutching a bag that is believed to have been used to carry the kittens.
CCTV then captured the twisted pair running back down the same street after killing the baby cats.
Prosecutor Valerie Benjamin said the animals were discovered with their flesh and fur cut off and burnt.
As well as the tragic kittens, knives, blowtorches and scissors were found at the scene.
Police later discovered a note on the boy’s phone that read: “I really wanted to murder someone and I was searching how to get away with murder.
“I have come close.
“I have killed cats to reduce my urges.
“I have skinned strangled and stabbed cats.”
The boy had also carried out a number of chilling searches for “killing cats and dogs” and “how to kill a human”.
Ms Benjamin said: “There were concerns about his desire to go on to killing humans.
“He questioned how easy it would be get away with murder and how to kill homeless people.”
It also emerged the teens had chillingly put out adverts for the kittens and went to pick them up before killing them.
Sentencing, Judge Hina Rai also imposed a lifetime ban from caring for animals on the boy.
She said: “You have caused extreme suffering to those two kittens. You knew exactly what you were doing and it would result in their suffering.
“Without a doubt these are the most awful offences I have seen against animals in this court.”
Moussa Mara, the prime minister for eight months in 2014-2015, has been charged with ‘undermining the credibility of the state’.
A former prime minister of Mali has been charged with “undermining the credibility of the state” following a social media post about his visits to political prisoners, according to a prosecutor.
Moussa Mara held the post of prime minister for a brief eight months from 2014 until 2015. He was previously summoned for questioning following a July 4 post on X in which he spoke of visiting the prisoners and promising to ensure them justice.
“As long as the night lasts, the sun will obviously appear!” he wrote and added, “We will fight by all means for this to happen as soon as possible!”
Mara remains in jail with a trial scheduled for September 29. His lawyers condemned the proceedings in a statement on Friday.
Mara’s arrest is the latest in a crackdown on dissent by Mali’s military rulers following the country’s first pro-democracy rally since soldiers seized power nearly four years ago.
Abdoulaye Yaro, a close associate of the former prime minister, told The Associated Press news agency that Mara was arrested after a cybercrime prosecutor ordered his detention pending trial for expressing compassion for people jailed for political beliefs.
His lawyer, Mountaga Tall, said on X that the former prime minister faces charges including undermining state authority, inciting public disorder, and spreading false information.
Mara’s legal team is contesting the charges and detention, Tall said.
Since orchestrating two coups in 2020 and 2021, General Assimi Goita has led Mali. In June, he was granted an additional five years in power, despite the military government’s earlier promises of a return to civilian rule by March 2024.
Mali, a landlocked nation in Africa’s semi-arid Sahel region on the southern fringe of the Sahara desert, has been embroiled in political instability that swept across West and Central Africa over the last decade.
