US military judge reinstates 9/11 mastermind plea deal: official/node/2578400/world
US military judge reinstates 9/11 mastermind plea deal: official
US national flags are flown at half-staff on the 23rd anniversary of the 9/11 attacks on the World Trade Center on September 11, 2024, in Jersey City, New Jersey. (File/AFP)
US military judge reinstates 9/11 mastermind plea deal: official
The prosecution has the opportunity to appeal the decision, but it was not immediately clear if they would do so
Updated 07 November 2024
AFP
WASHINGTON: A US military judge has reinstated plea agreements for 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and two other defendants, an official said Thursday, three months after the deals were scrapped by Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin.
The agreements — which are understood to take the death penalty off the table — had triggered anger among some relatives of victims of the 2001 attacks, and Austin said that both they and the American public deserved to see the defendants stand trial.
“I can confirm that the military judge has ruled that the pretrial agreements for the three accused are valid and enforceable,” the US official told AFP on condition of anonymity.
The prosecution has the opportunity to appeal the decision, but it was not immediately clear if they would do so.
The plea deals with Mohammed and two alleged accomplices were announced in late July in a step that appeared to have moved their long-running cases toward resolution after years of being bogged down in pre-trial maneuverings while the defendants remained held at the Guantanamo Bay military base in Cuba.
But Austin withdrew the agreements two days after they were announced, saying the decision should rest with him given its significance.
He subsequently told journalists that “the families of the victims, our service members and the American public deserve the opportunity to see military commission trials carried out in this case.”
Much of the legal jousting surrounding the men’s cases has focused on whether they could be tried fairly after having undergone methodical torture at the hands of the CIA in the years after 9/11 — a thorny issue that the plea agreements would have avoided.
Clashes in Mozambique after opposition leader calls for protest
Updated 7 sec ago
AFP
MAPUTO: Police in Mozambique fired tear gas and deployed dogs to disperse protesters in the capital Maputo on Thursday, after the opposition called a demonstration against the contested election results. The southern African nation has been rocked by violence since the Oct. 9 vote won by the Frelimo party, which has been in power for almost 50 years. Leading opposition leader Venancio Mondlane, who says the results were false and that he won, called for a mass protest on Thursday, saying in an interview that it was a “crucial moment” for the country. “I feel that there is a revolutionary atmosphere ... that shows that we are on the verge of a unique historical and political transition in the country,” said Mondlane, speaking from an undisclosed location. The 50-year-old former radio presenter said he could not reveal his whereabouts other than to say he was not in Africa. Several thousand people took to the streets on Thursday to protest the election result, some throwing rocks and setting up barricades using burning tires and bins. “This is not so much about Venancio (as Mondlane is popularly known). It’s more about change,” said Richard, a protester who asked to be identified only by his first name. The uprising was to reflect “the voice of the people,” he added. “Either they change and think about the people, or the country doesn’t move forward.” Heavily armed riot police and soldiers flanked by tanks dispersed the crowds with tear gas, according to reporters at the scene. “It’s scary ... we’re all here shaking from time to time, we run away, but it’s going to be worth it,” said Vadi, a woman who also only gave her first name. “We want change, that’s all.” Shops, banks, schools, and universities were closed in the coastal city, which had around 1 million people. “Our first objective ... is certainly the restoration of electoral truth,” Mondlane said. “We want the popular will expressed at the polls on Oct. 9 to be restored.” He was “waging a struggle” with “national” and “historical purpose,” he added. “People have realized that it wasn’t possible to bring profound change in Mozambique without taking risks,” he said. “Now they have to free themselves.” Mondlane has used social media to rally supporters onto the streets on several occasions for demonstrations that have led to clashes with police. At least 18 people have been killed in the post-electoral violence, according to Human Rights Watch. One local NGO, the Center for Democracy and Human Rights, has put the toll at 24. A police officer was also killed in a protest at the weekend, Defense Minister Cristovao Chume said on Tuesday, warning the army could intervene “to protect the interests of the state.” “There is an intention to change the democratically established power,” he added. President Filipe Nyusi is expected to step down early next year at the end of his two-term limit, handing over to Frelimo’s Daniel Chapo, who won the presidential election with 71 percent of the vote, according to the electoral commission. Mondlane, who has lodged a case at the Constitutional Council to request a ballot recount, said that he was “open to a government of national unity.” The authorities have restricted access to the internet across the country, which HRW said was an apparent effort to “suppress peaceful protests and public criticism of the government.” The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Turk, has warned against “unnecessary or disproportionate force.” Police should “ensure that they manage protests in line with Mozambique’s international human rights obligations,” he said. The Southern African Development Community has called for an extraordinary summit between Nov. 16 and 20 in part to discuss developments in Mozambique. Mondlane left the country last month following the unrest. He initially said he would be at Thursday’s march but on Wednesday told AFP he wouldn’t return after all due to safety concerns. “I wanted so much to be in Maputo with my people. But unfortunately, I received more than 5,000 messages ... Ninety-nine percent discouraged me from going to Maputo,” he said. “Unfortunately, I won’t be able to be there.”
Russian attack on Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia kills four, wounds 40
Russian forces have stepped up their attacks in Zaporizhzhia in recent days
“The death toll as a result of Russia’s strikes on Zaporizhzhia has risen to four,” the emergency services said
Updated 3 min 24 sec ago
KYIV: Russian aerial attacks on the frontline city of Zaporizhzhia on Thursday killed at least four people and wounded another 40, including children, officials said.
Another two were killed in a separate attack on the eastern Donetsk region, strikes that followed a wave of overnight drone attacks, including on the capital Kyiv.
Russian forces have stepped up their attacks in Zaporizhzhia in recent days and are making rapid advances in the industrial territory of Donetsk, both of which the Kremlin says are Russian territory.
“The death toll as a result of Russia’s strikes on Zaporizhzhia has risen to four,” the emergency services said in a statement on social media.
“Forty were wounded, including four children,” governor Ivan Fedorov said in a separate statement.
Officials said earlier that a hospital had been damaged in Zaporizhzhia, which had a pre-war population of more than 700,000 people and lies around 35 kilometers (22 miles) from the nearest Russian positions.
A four-month old girl and boys aged one, five and 15 were wounded in the attacks, Fedorov said.
Officials posted images showing rescue workers pulling victims from the rubble and holding back distressed locals from getting to the destroyed buildings.
The strikes later in the Donetsk region killed two people and wounded five more in the village of Mykolaivka, the region’s governor Vadym Filashkin announced on social media.
“One of the shells hit a five-story building and four buildings nearby were damaged,” he wrote on social media.
He posted a photo of a Soviet-era residential building on fire, dozens of its windows blown out with debris littering the ground beneath it.
Grenade attack targeted Israeli embassy in Denmark: report
The grenades landed on the terrace of a house adjacent to the embassy
Two Swedes aged 17 and 19 have been detained
Updated 33 sec ago
AFP
COPENHAGEN: Israel’s embassy in Denmark was likely the target of grenades thrown nearby last month, Danish media reported Thursday, citing the pre-indictment of two teenage suspects detained in the case.
Two Swedes aged 17 and 19 went before a judge in Copenhagen who remanded them for another 20 days.
Their pre-indictment, citing investigations, said they were suspected of violating terrorism laws by “throwing hand grenades at the Israeli embassy in Denmark on October 2,” the Ritzau news agency reported.
The grenades landed on the terrace of a house adjacent to the embassy, where they exploded, causing no injuries.
The two suspects were arrested at a Copenhagen railway station hours later initially on suspicion of violating gun laws.
They have since been accused of a terror offense and police, who have arrested a man in his fifties in connection with the incident, are also looking for other accomplices.
“It makes no sense to imagine this is an act they committed alone. There must be accomplices,” Ritzau quoted prosecutor Soren Harbo as saying at the start of the hearing.
The teens deny the accusations.
The case comes against a backdrop of severe tensions in the Middle East, with conflict in Gaza and Lebanon, as well as increasing gang violence with Danish criminal gangs suspected of recruiting underage Swedes to settle scores.
Renowned Indian scholar, philanthropist Dr. Syed Shah Khusro Hussaini dies aged 80
Updated 22 min 57 sec ago
Arab News
KALABURAGI, India: Dr. Syed Shah Khusro Hussaini, a prominent scholar, educationalist, philanthropist and chancellor of Khaja Banda Nawaz University in India’s Karnataka state, died on Wednesday evening aged 80.
Funeral prayers were held on Thursday evening at the Sharif Mosque. He is survived by his wife, two sons and three daughters.
He completed a Master of Arts in Islamic Studies at McGill University in Canada and was awarded a Ph.D. from Belford University, US, for his research work.
Since 2007 he brought significant changes to the Khaja Education Society on the organizational, administrative and functional levels. He also expanded existing institutions and was instrumental in establishing Khaja Bandanawaz Institute of Medical Sciences at Kalaburagi in 2000.
Through perseverance, he established Khaja Bandanawaz University in August 2018. As vice-president of the All-India Muslim Personal Law Board and chancellor of Khaja Banda Nawaz University, he played a vital role in promoting modern and Islamic education in India.
In addition to his administrative skills, Hussaini was known for his deep and scholarly understanding of Sufism. He was awarded the prestigious Karnataka Rajyotsava Award for excellence in education by the government of Karnataka in 2017.
Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister D.K. Shivakumar and other political leaders expressed their condolences over his death.
Putin congratulates Donald Trump on his election victory in first public comments on US vote
The Kremlin earlier welcomed Trump’s claim that he could negotiate an end to the conflict in Ukraine
″I would like to take this opportunity to congratulate him on his election as president,” Putin said
Updated 53 min 9 sec ago
AP
SOCHI, Russia: Russian President Vladimir Putin congratulated Donald Trump on winning this week’s US presidential election and said on Thursday he was ready to speak to Trump, as any ideas on facilitating an end to the Ukraine crisis merited attention.
Putin said he was impressed with how Trump, who decisively defeated Vice President Kamala Harris to secure his return to the White House, handled himself in the moments after an assassination attempt in July, describing Trump as a brave man.
