Bangladesh’s ousted leader Sheikh Hasina sentenced to death

A Bangladesh court sentenced ousted prime minister Sheikh Hasina to be hanged for crimes against humanity on Monday, with cheers breaking out in the packed court as the judge read out the verdict. Hasina, 78, defied court orders that she return from India to attend her trial about whether she ordered a deadly crackdown against a student-led uprising last year that eventually ousted her. The highly anticipated ruling, which was broadcast live on national television, came less than three months before the first polls in the South Asian country of 170 million people since her overthrow in August 2024. “All the… elements constituting crimes against humanity have been fulfilled,” judge Golam Mortuza Mozumder read to the court in Dhaka. The former leader was found guilty on three counts: incitement, order to kill, and inaction to prevent the atrocities, the judge said. “We have decided to inflict her with only one sentence — that is, sentence of death.” Crowds waved the national fl...

Al Qaeda affiliate says it killed 70 soldiers in Benin, SITE reports

Al Qaeda affiliate JNIM said it killed 70 soldiers in raids on two military posts in north Benin, the biggest death count claimed by jihadists in the country in over a decade of activity in West Africa, the SITE Intelligence Group said on Saturday.

The West African state and its coastal neighbour Togo have suffered a series of attacks in recent years as groups linked to Islamic State and al Qaeda have expanded their presence beyond the Sahel region to the north.

Reuters news agency could not immediately confirm the report independently.

Benin’s army spokesman Ebenezer Honfoga did not respond to calls and messages.

SITE quoted a statement by Jama’a Nusrat ul-Islam wa al-Muslimin (JNIM) on Thursday saying 70 soldiers were killed in attacks on two military posts in Benin’s northeastern Kandi province in the Alibori department, more than 500 km (300 miles) from the capital Cotonou.

U.S. group SITE tracks online content from militant groups.

The Sahel insurgency took root after a Tuareg rebellion in north Mali in 2012 and spread into neighbouring Burkina Faso and Niger before reaching the north of coastal West African countries such as Benin more recently.

Thousands have been killed and millions displaced by the conflict, which contributed to spurring five military coups in Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger between 2020 and 2023.

Military authorities cut ties with traditional Western allies such as France and the U.S. after the coups and turned to Russia to help in fighting jihadist activity.

SOURCE: REUTERS AND AGENCIES



from The Times Of Earth https://ift.tt/jcrFmvz

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