The sentencing of a Moroccan journalist to five years in prison for indecent assault sparked condemnation Saturday, with media watchdog Reporters Without Borders (RSF) deploring a trial “tainted by irregularities”. A Casablanca court on Friday sentenced Soulaimane Raissouni — on hunger strike for more than 90 days — after convicting him of indecent assault against […]
trial
Moroccan journalist gets 5-year jail term for ‘indecent assault’
Detained Moroccan journalist Soulaimane Raissouni was sentenced on Friday to five years in jail for indecent assault against another man. Raissouni, editor-in-chief of now-defunct newspaper Akhbar Al Yaoum, denies the charge and has been on a hunger strike for 93 days. He was not present in court for the sentencing. His supporters say the case […]
US drug firms face jury over opioid addiction epidemic
US pharmaceutical firms accused of stoking a two-decade epidemic of opioid addiction that has seen 500,000 die from overdoses stood trial before a jury for the first time Tuesday. The suit launched by two counties in New York state charges the leading drugmakers and distributors with earning huge profits by pushing highly addictive prescription opioids […]
US ex-police officer sentenced to 22.5 years for Floyd murder
Former policeman Derek Chauvin was sentenced to 22 and a half years in jail Friday for murdering African American George Floyd, a killing that sparked America’s biggest demonstrations for racial justice in decades. “The sentence is not based on emotion or sympathy,” said Judge Peter Cahill, handing down the term at a Minneapolis court after […]
Woman who killed rapist husband goes on trial in France
A French woman who killed the man who raped her for years as her stepfather before becoming her husband and pimp goes on trial for murder on Monday. The case has mobilised defenders of women against male violence, with hundreds of thousands of people signing a petition for her release. “I had to put an […]
Ikea France found guilty in employee spying scandal
A French court ruled Tuesday that Ikea had set up an elaborate system to illegally spy on hundreds of employees and job applicants over several years, using private detectives as well as police sources. The French unit of the Swedish furniture giant was fined one million euros ($1.2 million) while its former chief Jean-Louis Baillot […]
German mother on trial for killing five of her children
A 28-year-old woman went on trial in Germany on Monday accused of smothering five of her six children in the bath, in what prosecutors called a particularly “malicious” case. The accused, identified only as Christiane K., faces a life sentence if found guilty of the murders by the district court of Wuppertal in western Germany. […]
Four Afghans get 10-year jail terms for Greek migrant camp fire
A Greek court on Saturday sentenced four young Afghan asylum seekers accused of starting fires that burnt down Europe’s largest migrant camp last year to 10 years in prison each. Defence lawyers said the court found them guilty of intentional arson. The Moria camp on the Aegean island of Lesbos was home to more than […]
China rejects torture allegations by Australian academic
China on Tuesday denied an Australian academic’s claims that he had been tortured in custody during his two-year detention on espionage charges. The trial of Chinese-born Australian Yang Jun began behind closed doors Thursday, but the court decided to delay a verdict and a sentence. The 56-year-old, who also goes by his pen name Yang […]
Trial of British-Iranian aid worker Zaghari-Ratcliffe was held in Iran: lawyer
DUBAI: The trial of British-Iranian aid worker Zaghari-Ratcliffe at Iran’s Revolutionary court was held on Sunday, her lawyer Hojjat Kermani told the Iranian Emtedad website. “Her trial was held at branch 15 of the Revolutionary court. Her charge is propaganda against the system,” he said. Iran had released Zaghari-Ratcliffe from house arrest last Sunday at […]