Sudan: Bashir, aides charged for plotting the 1989 coup

Agencies
November 13, 2019

Khartoum, Nov 13: Sudanese authorities on Tuesday filed new charges against ousted leader Omar al-Bashir and some of his aides for "plotting" the 1989 coup that brought him to power, the country's protest movement said.

Bashir, who was a brigadier at the time, seized power in an Islamist-backed coup that toppled the then elected government of prime minister Sadiq al-Mahdi.

But Bashir himself was ousted by the army in April after months of nationwide protests against his iron-fisted rule of three decades.

He has already been jailed since, but on Tuesday authorities filed a separate case against him and several of his aides for the 1989 coup.

"Arrest warrants have been issued against all military and civilian members who plotted and carried out the 1989 coup," the legal committee of the protest movement Forces of Freedom and Change (FFC) said in a statement.

It said arrest warrants and travel bans were issued against Bashir, and other top figures of his regime, such as Nafa Ali Nafa, Ali Osman Taha and Ibrahim al-Sanousi.

The authorities have also issued an arrest warrant against Ali al-Haj, a senior leader from the Islamist Popular Congress Party, which was an ally of Bashir's government.

Like Bashir, Nafa and Taha are already in prison, while Sanousi and Haj are still free.

The FFC said the prosecutors informed them of the new arrest warrants and travel ban against Bashir and others during a meeting earlier on Tuesday.

A source in the prosecutor's office confirmed to AFP that new arrest warrants had been issued against Bashir and his aides.

The Sudanese Professionals Association, which is part of the umbrella protest movement and initially spearheaded the campaign against Bashir, also posted the FFC statement on Twitter.

If found guilty, the accused could face the death penalty or life imprisonment under Sudanese law.

Bashir is also wanted by The Hague-based International Criminal Court for genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity for his alleged role in the war in Darfur.

He is currently on trial in a Sudanese court for illegally acquiring and using foreign funds.

Sudan is now ruled by a joint civilian and military sovereign council, which is tasked with overseeing the country's transition to a civilian rule as demanded by the protest movement.

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News Network
April 27,2020

London, Apr 27: British Prime Minister Boris Johnson returns to work on Monday more than three weeks after being hospitalised for the coronavirus and spending three days in intensive care.

Johnson, one of the highest-profile people to have contracted the virus, returned to 10 Downing Street on Sunday evening and will chair a meeting on Monday morning of the coronavirus "war cabinet", his colleagues confirmed.

Dominic Raab, the foreign secretary who has deputised in Johnson's absence, told the BBC on Sunday that his return would be a "boost for the government and a boost for the country".

Raab also claimed the prime minister was "raring to go".

Johnson, 55, was admitted to hospital on April 5 suffering from "persistent symptoms" of the deadly disease.

His condition worsened and he later admitted after being put in intensive care that "things could have gone either way".

He was discharged on April 12 and has been recuperating at his official residence, west of London.

In a video message after leaving hospital, Johnson thanked "Jenny from New Zealand and Luis from Portugal" for helping him recover.

On medical advice, he has not been doing official government work during his convalescence but has spoken to Queen Elizabeth and US President Donald Trump on the phone.

The British leader was diagnosed with the virus late last month but initially stayed at Downing Street and was filmed taking part in a round of applause for health workers in the days before he went to hospital.

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Agencies
June 24,2020

Washington, Jun 24: Twitter has once again flagged a tweet from US President Donald Trump which promoted violence by saying if protesters tried to set up an "autonomous zone" in Washington, DC they would be met with "serious force".

This is the fourth time Twitter has red flagged Trump's tweet for glorifying violence or violating its policies.

Trump has been critical of the "autonomous zone" in Seattle, an area occupied by protestors for much of this month.

"We've placed a public interest notice on this Tweet for violating our policy against abusive behaviour, specifically, the presence of a threat of harm against an identifiable group," Twitter's safety team tweeted late Tuesday.

Trump had tweeted: "There will never be an ‘Autonomous Zone' in Washington, D.C., as long as I'm your President. If they try they will be met with serious force!"

Twitter earlier labeled a video tweeted by him which mocked CNN as manipulated media.

According to Twitter, "this Tweet has been labeled per our synthetic and manipulated media policy to give people more context".

In May, Twitter labeled two Trump tweets that made false claims about mail-in ballots in California.

Twitter later labeled another Trump tweet glorifying violence in which he said, "when the looting starts, the shooting starts."

Facebook also removed a Trump campaign ad featuring a symbol used by Nazis for political dissenters, saying the ad violated its policies.

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Agencies
January 4,2020

Tel Aviv, Jan 4: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Friday came out in the support of Trump administration for carrying out the strike near Baghdad's international airport which led to the killing of Iran's elite IRGC Qassem Soleimani, saying that "The US has the right of self-defence."

"Just as Israel has the right of self-defence, the United States has exactly the same right. Qassem Soleimani is responsible for the death of American citizens and many other innocent people. He was planning more such attacks," PM Benjamin Netanyahu wrote on Twitter.

In another tweet, Netanyahu also credited US President Donald Trump for acting decisively in the operation of Iraq that led to the killing of Qassem Soleimani -- a US-designated terrorist, along with six others.

"President Donald Trump deserves all the credit for acting swiftly, forcefully and decisively. Israel stands with the United States in its just struggle for peace, security and self-defence," he added.

Meanwhile, Iran on Friday vowed to take a "vigorous revenge" over the killing of General Qassem Soleimani, the head of Iran's elite IRGC.

The US had accused Soleimani of orchestrating several attacks on coalition bases in Iraq including the December 27 attack in which American and Iraqi personnel were killed. 

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