French prosecutors demand Marine Le Pen be barred from office in fake jobs trial

French prosecutors demand Marine Le Pen be barred from office in fake jobs trial
French far-right party Rassemblement National (RN) former president now MP Marine Le Pen (L) and fellow RN MP Bruno Bilde (L) walk outside the courtroom during a break in the closing arguments hearing of her trial with 24 others for embezzling funds from the European Parliament for the benefit of the far-right party, in Paris on Nov. 13, 2024. (AFP)
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Updated 14 November 2024
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French prosecutors demand Marine Le Pen be barred from office in fake jobs trial

French prosecutors demand Marine Le Pen be barred from office in fake jobs trial
  • The prosecution made the request in a Paris court where Le Pen, 56, and other defendants from her National Rally party are on trial accused of creating fake jobs at the EU parliament
  • They deny the charges

PARIS: French prosecutors in the embezzlement trial of France’s far-right leader Marine Le Pen on Wednesday demanded she get a jail sentence and a ban from public office if convicted, potentially barring her from running for president in 2027.
The prosecution made the request in a Paris court where Le Pen, 56, and other defendants from her National Rally party are on trial accused of creating fake jobs at the EU parliament. They deny the charges.
If granted by the court, the ban would exclude her from running in France’s 2027 presidential election, in what would be her fourth attempt to become head of state.
The National Rally, like other far-right parties around Europe, is riding high following a strong performance in European elections in June.
The prosecution demanded all two dozen defendants be banned from public office for five years, effective immediately after the verdict, even if the defense team appeals.
“The law applies to all,” prosecutor Nicolas Barret told the court, as Le Pen sat in the front row of the defendants’ benches.
He added that the ban would “prohibit the defendants from running in future local or national elections.”
He demanded a five-year jail sentence for Le Pen, calling for at least two years of that to be a “convertible” custodial sentence, meaning there would be a possibility of partial release.
The prosecution also demanded the RN be fined two million euros ($2.1 million) and Le Pen herself 300,000 euros.
Le Pen promptly denounced the prosecutors’ motion as excessive, branding it an “outrage” and accusing prosecutors of trying to “ruin the (RN) party.”
“I think the prosecutors’ wish is to deprive the French people of the ability to vote for who they want,” she said.
The alleged fake jobs system, which was first flagged in 2015, covers parliamentary assistant contracts between 2004 and 2016.
Prosecutors say the assistants worked exclusively for the party outside parliament.
Addressing the trial last month, Le Pen said she was innocent.
“I have absolutely no sense of having committed the slightest irregularity, or the slightest illegal act,” she told the court.
The RN’s chairman Jordan Bardella called the prosecutors’ demands on Wednesday an “assault on democracy.”
“The prosecution is not acting justly,” he wrote on X. “It is seeking to persecute and take revenge on Marine Le Pen.”
Prosecutor Louise Neyton told the court earlier in Wednesday’s hearing her team was “not here to persecute” but as the result of a “long judicial investigation.”
She and Barret presented evidence that they said showed an “organized system” of embezzlement by which the party had aimed to “save money.”
Questioned last month about how exactly she selected her presumed parliamentary aides, and what their tasks were, Le Pen gave general answers, or said she could not remember.
If convicted, Le Pen would be able to lodge an appeal.
European Parliament authorities said the legislature had lost three million euros ($3.4 million) through the jobs scheme.
The RN has paid back one million euros, which it insists is not an admission of guilt.

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Russia transported Assad in ‘most secured way,’ Russian Deputy FM tells NBC News

Russia transported Assad in ‘most secured way,’ Russian Deputy FM tells NBC News
Updated 15 sec ago
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Russia transported Assad in ‘most secured way,’ Russian Deputy FM tells NBC News

Russia transported Assad in ‘most secured way,’ Russian Deputy FM tells NBC News
  • Asked whether Russia would hand over Assad for trial, Ryabkov said: “Russia is not a party to the convention that established the International Criminal Court”
  • Moscow has supported Syria since the early days of the Cold War, recognizing its independence in 1944 as Damascus sought to throw off French colonial rule

MOSCOW: Russia transported Bashar Assad, who was ousted as Syria’s president by a lightning rebel offensive, very securely to Russia, the country’s deputy foreign minister, Sergei Ryabkov, told NBC News in an interview aired on Tuesday.
The Kremlin said on Monday that President Vladimir Putin had made the decision to grant asylum in Russia to Assad. His fall is a big blow to Iran and Russia, which had intervened in Syria’s 13-year civil war to try to shore up his rule despite Western demands that he leave power.
“He is secured, and it shows that Russia acts as required in such an extraordinary situation,” Ryabkov told NBC, according to a transcript on NBC’s website. He added that he would not elaborate “on what happened and how it was resolved.”
Asked whether Russia would hand over Assad for trial, Ryabkov said: “Russia is not a party to the convention that established the International Criminal Court.”
Moscow has supported Syria since the early days of the Cold War, recognizing its independence in 1944 as Damascus sought to throw off French colonial rule. The West saw Syria as a Soviet satellite.
On Tuesday, Syria’s new interim leader announced that he was taking charge of the country as caretaker prime minister with the backing of the former rebels who toppled Assad.
Separately, Ryabkov said that Russia would “definitely be prepared to consider” another prisoner swap, similar to the
August exchange that involved Wall Street Journal reporter journalist Evan Gershkovich and ex-US Marine Paul Whelan.
A new deal would be “a healthy step forward, especially at the beginning of the next administration,” Ryabkov told NBC, adding he would not want to “pre-empt anything.”

 


Syria must not repeat ‘horrific scenarios’ of Libya, Iraq, Afghanistan: EU’s Kallas

Syria must not repeat ‘horrific scenarios’ of Libya, Iraq, Afghanistan: EU’s Kallas
Updated 11 December 2024
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Syria must not repeat ‘horrific scenarios’ of Libya, Iraq, Afghanistan: EU’s Kallas

Syria must not repeat ‘horrific scenarios’ of Libya, Iraq, Afghanistan: EU’s Kallas
  • Kallas threw her weight behind United Nations efforts to help steward an “orderly, peaceful and inclusive transition”

BRUSSELS, Belgium: EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas warned Tuesday of the risks of sectarian violence and an extremist resurgence in Syria, as she urged international powers to help a peaceful transition after Bashar Assad’s fall.
“We must avoid a repeat of the horrific scenarios in Iraq, Libya and Afghanistan,” Kallas told a hearing of EU lawmakers.
“It is our role as international partners to accompany the Syrian people in piecing together a shattered society.”
Kallas said there were questions over whether Islamist group Hayat Tahrir Al-Sham (HTS), which spearheaded the ouster of Syrian president Bashar Assad and once had root in Al-Qaeda, “had changed.”
The EU’s top diplomat said Assad’s ouster was a “huge blow” for his Russian and Iranian allies.
“They are weakened, distracted and overstretched in other theaters in the broader Middle East and in Ukraine,” she said.
Kallas threw her weight behind United Nations efforts to help steward an “orderly, peaceful and inclusive transition.”
She said that Western nations needed to work with regional players including the Gulf states, Turkiye, Lebanon, Iraq and Israel “to address shared challenges.”
Kallas said Syria needed an “inclusive rebuilding process” that involved minorities as well as women and girls.
The EU was monitoring humanitarian conditions to see if more aid was needed and would help efforts to hold Assad’s government responsible for its crimes, she said.
 

 


Australian PM says anti-Israel graffiti in Sydney an ‘outrage’

Australian PM says anti-Israel graffiti in Sydney an ‘outrage’
Updated 11 December 2024
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Australian PM says anti-Israel graffiti in Sydney an ‘outrage’

Australian PM says anti-Israel graffiti in Sydney an ‘outrage’
  • “The incident in Sydney is an outrage and another anti-Semitic attack,” Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said in a statement on social media

SYDNEY: Vandals daubed anti-Israel graffiti in a Sydney suburb on Wednesday, police said, sparking “outrage” from Australia’s government days after a Melbourne synagogue was set ablaze.
Police said they were seeking two people aged 15-20 who wore face coverings in relation to the incident, in which a car was also torched in the early hours.
Graffiti was spread over the burned car, another vehicle, two buildings and a footpath, state police said.
Images on local media showed the misspelled phrase “Kill Israiel” painted in black on a white wall in the eastern suburb of Woollahra, which has a long-established Jewish community.
A contractor painted over the graffiti soon afterwards.
“The incident in Sydney is an outrage and another anti-Semitic attack,” Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said in a statement on social media.
“I stand with the Jewish community and unequivocally condemn this attack. There is no place for hatred or anti-Semitism in our country.”
The Australian leader said he would be briefed by a federal police task force that was set up this week to investigate anti-Semitic attacks.
Albanese had toured the charred remains of the Melbourne synagogue the day before, urging the country to unite in the face of the “evil” arson attack.
Counter-terror police are hunting for three suspects believed responsible for setting fire to the Adass Israel Synagogue in Melbourne in the early hours of Friday.
The synagogue blaze was met with international condemnation, including from Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who accused the Australian government of harboring “anti-Israel sentiment.”
The war in Gaza has sparked protests from supporters of Israel and Palestinians in cities around Australia, as in much of the world.
A body representing Australia’s Jewish community said the Sydney graffiti and car-burning was designed to “terrorize.”
“How long will this continue and with what horrors will it end?” asked Alex Ryvchin, co-chief executive of the Executive Council of Australian Jewry.
“We ask that you stand with us. March with us. Don’t let this evil tear our country to pieces.”
The New South Wales state premier, Chris Minns, said the Sydney incident was “shocking.”
“This is not the Sydney we want. These racist attempts to divide our city will not work,” the premier said.
The perpetrators “will be found and they will face the full force of the law,” he said.


Ex-human rights lawyer avoids jail in UK over Iraq War fraud

Ex-human rights lawyer avoids jail in UK over Iraq War fraud
Updated 11 December 2024
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Ex-human rights lawyer avoids jail in UK over Iraq War fraud

Ex-human rights lawyer avoids jail in UK over Iraq War fraud
  • British troops involved in the conflict faced accusations including rape, torture and mock executions

LONDON: A former human rights lawyer who admitted to fraud over false claims of war-crimes against UK soldiers during the Iraq conflict was on Tuesday spared jail at a London court.
A British tribunal struck off Phil Shiner, 67, in 2017 after finding him guilty of misconduct and dishonesty in connection with allegations against veterans of the Iraq War.
British soldiers served in the US-led invasion that began in 2003 and led to the fall of Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein.
Shiner admitted at Southwark Crown Court that he made an application for up to £200,000 ($255,000) of legal aid funding for his firm to represent clients, but failed to disclose that an agent acting on his behalf had made unsolicited approaches to potential clients in Iraq.
He also failed to disclose that he was paying referral fees, which is not allowed when applying for legal aid.
“This man drummed up business by paying fixers to find cases and profited from it by lying to the Legal Aid Board in what the judge called a thoroughly dishonest fashion,” said Hilary Meredith-Beckham, a lawyer who has represented veterans involved in the accusations.
Judge Christopher Hehir on Tuesday handed Shiner a jail sentence suspended for two years for three counts of fraud.
He will only serve time in prison if he commits further offenses during that period.
“You have already suffered professional and personal ruin and I do not consider it necessary to add to that by sending you straight to prison,” said Hehir.
British troops involved in the conflict faced accusations including rape, torture and mock executions.
A subsequent £24 million inquiry found the allegations of torture and murder were “wholly without foundation and entirely the product of deliberate lies, reckless speculation and ingrained hostility.”
Former soldier Robert Campbell, who was wrongly accused of drowning an Iraqi teenager, said outside court that he was “pretty disgusted” Shiner was not sentenced to prison.
“The listing in court was a very benign documents case that didn’t reflect the human element of what he has done in the slightest,” he said.
“Of course he should have gone to jail. His poison has spread far beyond the Iraq war.”


US troops are staying in Syria, White House’s Finer says

US Deputy National Security Adviser Jon Finer. (AFP)
US Deputy National Security Adviser Jon Finer. (AFP)
Updated 11 December 2024
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US troops are staying in Syria, White House’s Finer says

US Deputy National Security Adviser Jon Finer. (AFP)
  • Washington still designates as a terrorist organization the Sunni Muslim group Hayat Tahrir Al-Sham, which was chief among the rebel forces that ended 50 years of brutal dynastic rule by Assad

NEW YORK: US troops will be staying in Syria after the fall of President Bashar Assad as part of a counter-terrorism mission focused on destroying Daesh militants, a top White House official said on Tuesday.
“Those troops are there for a very specific and important reason, not as some sort of bargaining chip,” US Deputy National Security Adviser Jon Finer said in an interview at the Reuters NEXT conference in New York.
US troops “have been there now for the better part of a decade or more to fight Daesh... we are still committed to that mission.”
Asked directly whether US troops are staying, Finer said, “Yes.”
Daesh in 2014 swept through large swaths of Syria and Iraq and established an Islamic caliphate before it was driven out by a US-led coalition by 2019.
Syrian rebels seized the capital Damascus unopposed on Sunday after a lightning advance that sent Assad fleeing to Russia after a 13-year civil war and more than five decades of his family’s autocratic rule.
But Washington now sees its military presence as a hedge against further instability, even as it remains unclear how Syria’s new rulers will view US presence.
Washington still designates as a terrorist organization the Sunni Muslim group Hayat Tahrir Al-Sham, which was chief among the rebel forces that ended 50 years of brutal dynastic rule by Assad.
“There has been no formal change in any policies,” on such groups, said Finer. “Those designations are not made based on what groups say or what they say their intentions are or they intend to do, it’s about actions so we will be watching.”
He characterized as “quite constructive” some of what those groups have been saying in recent weeks but said Washington would wait and see if those statements are followed by action to bring about “credible, inclusive governance for Syria.”
He said the Biden administration is in contact with members of the incoming team of President-elect Donald Trump and keeping them apprised about Syria.