Trial of former President Sarkozy sheds light on France’s back-channel talks with Libya’s Qaddafi

Trial of former President Sarkozy sheds light on France’s back-channel talks with Libya’s Qaddafi
Libyan leader Muammar Qaddafi welcomes French President Nicolas Sarkozy at the Bab Azizia Palace in Tripoli, Jul. 25, 2007. (AP/File)
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Updated 28 March 2025
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Trial of former President Sarkozy sheds light on France’s back-channel talks with Libya’s Qaddafi

Trial of former President Sarkozy sheds light on France’s back-channel talks with Libya’s Qaddafi
  • French families of victims of a 1989 plane bombing told the court about their shock and sense of betrayal
  • During the trial, Sarkozy has said he has “never ever betrayed” families of victims

PARIS: The monthslong trial of former French President Nicolas Sarkozy over the alleged illegal financing of his 2007 presidential campaign is shedding light on France’s back-channel talks with the government of then-Libyan leader Muammar Qaddafi.
Family members of terrorist attacks sponsored by Qaddafi’s regime have told the court they suspect that Sarkozy was willing to sacrifice the memories of their loved ones in order to normalize ties with Libya almost two decades ago.
French prosecutors on Thursday requested a seven-year prison sentence for the 70-year-old former leader. Sarkozy, who was president from 2007 to 2012, has denied all wrongdoing.
The trial, which started in January, is to continue until April 8, with Sarkozy’s lawyers to plead on the last day. The verdict is expected at a later date.
Some key moments in the trial have focused on talks between France and Libya in the 2000s, when Qaddafi was seeking to restore diplomatic ties with the West. Before that, Libya was considered a pariah state for having sponsored attacks.
French families of victims of a 1989 plane bombing told the court about their shock and sense of betrayal as the trial questioned whether promises possibly made to Qaddafi’s government were part of the alleged corruption deal.
The Lockerbie and UTA flight bombings
In 1988, a bomb planted aboard a Pam Am flight exploded while the plane was over the Scottish town of Lockerbie, killing 270 people from 21 countries, including 190 Americans.
The following year, on Sept. 19, 1989, the bombing of UTA flight 772 over Niger killed 170 people, including 54 French nationals on board, after an in-flight explosion caused by a suitcase bomb.
Both French and US investigations have tied both bombings to Libya, whose government had engaged in long-running hostilities with the US and other Western governments.
Now, families of victims are wondering whether French government officials close to Sarkozy promised to forget about the bombings in exchange for business opportunities with the oil-rich nation and possibly, an alleged corruption deal.
“What did they do with our dead?” Nicoletta Diasio, the daughter of a man who died in the bombing, has told the court, saying she wondered if the memories of the victims “could have been used for bartering” in talks between France and Libya.
During the trial, Sarkozy has said he has “never ever betrayed” families of victims. “I have never traded their fate for any compromise, nor pact of realpolitik,” he said.
Libya’s push to restore ties with the West
Libya was long a pariah state for its involvement in the 1980s bombings.
In 2003, it took responsibility for both the 1988 and 1989 plane bombings and agreed to pay billions in compensation to the victims’ families.
Qaddafi also announced he was dismantling his nuclear weapons program, which led to the lifting of international sanctions against the country.
Britain, France and other Western countries sought to restore a relationship with Libya for security, diplomatic and business purposes.
In 2007, Sarkozy welcomed Qaddafi to Paris with honors for a five-day official visit, allowing him to set up a bedouin tent near the Elysee presidential palace. Many French people still remember that gesture, feeling Sarkozy went too far to please a dictator.
Sarkozy said during the trial he would have preferred to “do without” Qaddafi’s visit at the time but it came as a diplomatic gesture after Libya’s release of Bulgarian nurses who were imprisoned and facing death sentences for a crime they said they did not commit.
Bulgarian nurses
On July 24, 2007, under an accord partially brokered by first lady Cecilia Sarkozy and EU officials, Libya released the five Bulgarian nurses and a Palestinian doctor.
The medics, who had spent over eight years in prison, faced death sentence on charges they deliberately infected hundreds of children with the AIDS virus in the late 1990s — an allegation they denied.
The release of the medics removed the last major obstacle to Libya’s rejoining the international community.
Sarkozy traveled to the capital, Tripoli, for talks with Qaddafi the day after the medics were returned to Bulgaria on a French presidential plane.
In court has spoken of his “pride to have saved those six persons.”
“If you did not discuss with Qaddafi, you’d not get the release of the nurses,” he said.
Libya’s spy chief at heart of questions
Accused of masterminding the attack on UTA Flight 772, Qaddafi’s brother-in-law and intelligence chief Abdullah Al-Senoussi was convicted in absentia to a life sentence by a Paris court in 1999 for the attack.
An international arrest warrant was issued for him and five other suspects.
Financial prosecutors have accused Sarkozy of having promised to lift the arrest warrant targeting Al-Senoussi in exchange for alleged campaign financing.
In 2005, people close to Sarkozy, who was at the time the interior minister, including his chief of staff Claude Guéant and junior minister Brice Hortefeux, traveled to Tripoli, where they met with Al-Senoussi.
Both Guéant and Hortefeux have told the court that it was a “surprise” meeting they were not aware of beforehand.
Al-Senoussi told investigative judges that millions of dollars were provided to support Sarkozy’s campaign. Accused of war crimes, he is now imprisoned in Libya.
Sarkozy has strongly denied that.
Qaddafi’s son accusations
Qaddafi’s son, Seif Al-Islam, told the French news network RFI in January that he was personally involved in giving Sarkozy 5 million dollars in cash.
Seif Al-Islam sent RFI radio a two-page statement on his version of events. It was the first time he talked to the media about the case since 2011.
He said Sarkozy initially “received $2.5 million from Libya to finance his electoral campaign” during the 2007 presidential election, in return for which Sarkozy would “conclude agreements and carry out projects in favor of Libya.”
He said a second payment of $2.5 million in cash was handed over without specifying when it was given.
According to him, Libyan authorities expected that in return, Sarkozy would end a legal case about the 1989 UTA Flight 771 attack — including removing his name from an international warrant notice.
Sarkozy strongly denied those allegations.
“You’ll never find one Libyan euro, one Libyan cent in my campaign,” he said at the opening of the trial in January. “There’s no corruption money because there was no corruption.”
Sarkozy turning his back to Qaddafi
The Libyan civil war started in February 2011, with army units and militiamen loyal to Qaddafi opposing rebels.
Sarkozy was the first Western leader to take a public stance to support the rebellion.
On Feb. 25, 2011, he said the violence by pro-Qaddafi forces was unacceptable and should not go unpunished. “Qaddafi must go,” he said at the time.
On March 10 that year, France was the first country in the world to recognize the National Transitional Council as the legitimate government of Libya.
“That was the Arab Spring,” Sarkozy told the court. “Qaddafi was the only dictator who had sent (military) aircrafts against his people. He had promised rivers of blood, that’s his expression.”
Muammar Qaddafi was killed by opposition fighters in Oct. 2011, ending his four-decade rule of the North African country.


US ready to abandon efforts to broker Russia-Ukraine peace deal, Rubio says

US ready to abandon efforts to broker Russia-Ukraine peace deal, Rubio says
Updated 4 sec ago
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US ready to abandon efforts to broker Russia-Ukraine peace deal, Rubio says

US ready to abandon efforts to broker Russia-Ukraine peace deal, Rubio says
  • Trump was still interested in a deal but had many other priorities around the world
Paris: The United States will stop trying to broker a Russia-Ukraine peace deal within days unless there are clear signs that a deal can be done, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Friday.
Rubio, speaking in Paris after meeting European and Ukranian leaders, said that President Donald Trump was still interested in a deal but had many other priorities around the world and was willing to move on unless there are signs of progress. (Reporting by Bart H. Meijer and Dominique Vidalon Writing by Gabriel Stargardter Editing by David Goodman )

Over 170 arrested for attacks on Pakistan KFC outlets in Gaza war protests

Over 170 arrested for attacks on Pakistan KFC outlets in Gaza war protests
Updated 18 min 41 sec ago
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Over 170 arrested for attacks on Pakistan KFC outlets in Gaza war protests

Over 170 arrested for attacks on Pakistan KFC outlets in Gaza war protests
  • Attacks sparked by anti-US, anti-Israel sentiment
  • Several Western brands face boycotts in Pakistan over Israel-Palestine conflict

KARACHI: Police have arrested scores of people in Pakistan in recent weeks after more than 10 mob attacks on outlets of US fast-food chain KFC, sparked by anti-United States sentiment and opposition to its ally Israel’s war in Gaza, officials said.
Police in major cities in the Islamic nation, including the southern port city of Karachi, the eastern city of Lahore and the capital Islamabad, confirmed at least 11 incidents in which KFC outlets were attacked by protesters armed with sticks and vandalized. At least 178 people were arrested, the officials said this week.
KFC and its parent Yum Brands, both US-based, did not respond to requests for comment.
A police official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said one KFC employee was shot and killed this week in a store on the outskirts of Lahore by unknown gunmen. The official added there was no protest at the time and they were investigating whether the killing was motivated by political sentiment or some other reason.
In Lahore, police said they were ramping up security at 27 KFC outlets around the city after two attacks took place and five others were prevented.
“We are investigating the role of different individuals and groups in these attacks,” said Faisal Kamran, a senior Lahore police officer, adding that 11 people, including a member of the Islamist religious party Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP), were arrested in the city. He added the protests were not officially organized by TLP.
TLP spokesman Rehan Mohsin Khan said the group “has urged Muslims to boycott Israeli products, but it has not given any call for protest outside KFC.”
“If any other person claiming to be a TLP leader or activist has indulged in such activity, it should be taken as his personal act which has nothing to do with the party’s policy,” said Khan.
KFC has long been viewed as a symbol of the United States in Pakistan and borne the brunt of anti-American sentiment in recent decades with protests and attacks.
Western brands have been hit by boycotts and other forms of protests in Pakistan and other Muslim-majority countries in recent months over Israel’s military offensive in the Gaza Strip.
The war was triggered by the Palestinian militant group Hamas’ October 7, 2023, attack on southern Israel, in which 1,200 people were killed and 251 taken hostage to Gaza, according to Israeli tallies.
Since then, more than 51,000 Palestinians have been killed in the Israeli offensive, according to local health authorities.
Yum Brands has said one of its other brands, Pizza Hut, has faced a protracted impact from boycotts related to Israel’s war in Gaza.
In Pakistan, local brands have made inroads into its fast-growing cola market as some consumers avoid US brands. In 2023, Coca-Cola’s market share in the consumer sector in Pakistan fell to 5.7 percent from 6.3 percent in 2022, according to GlobalData, while PepsiCo’s fell to 10.4 percent from 10.8 percent.
Earlier this month, religious clerics in Pakistan called for a boycott of any products or brands that they say support Israel or the American economy, but asked people to stay peaceful and not destroy property. 


Chinese foreign minister calls on Global South to safeguard multilateral trade

Chinese foreign minister calls on Global South to safeguard multilateral trade
Updated 9 min 10 sec ago
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Chinese foreign minister calls on Global South to safeguard multilateral trade

Chinese foreign minister calls on Global South to safeguard multilateral trade
  • Wang said the world is again at a critical crossroads

BEIJING: Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi called on Global South countries to safeguard multilateral trading systems, warning that power politics and “unilateral bullying” are creating divisions, in a statement his ministry released on Friday.
In a written speech to a roundtable meeting in Beijing on Thursday and referred to in the statement, Wang said the world is again at a critical crossroads, urging countries to oppose “unilateral protectionism” and build an open world economy. 


US YouTuber remains in custody in India after visiting restricted island with a Diet Coke can

US YouTuber remains in custody in India after visiting restricted island with a Diet Coke can
Updated 55 min 29 sec ago
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US YouTuber remains in custody in India after visiting restricted island with a Diet Coke can

US YouTuber remains in custody in India after visiting restricted island with a Diet Coke can
  • Polyakov is suspected of violating Indian laws that carry a possible sentence of up to five years in prison and a fine

NEW DELHI: A 24-year-old American YouTuber who was arrested after visiting an off-limits island in the Indian Ocean with hopes of establishing contact with a reclusive tribe was further detained in custody on Thursday.
Mykhailo Viktorovych Polyakov will next appear before a local court in Port Blair — the capital of India’s Andaman and Nicobar Islands — on April 29, police said.
Polyakov, from Scottsdale, Arizona, was arrested on March 31, two days after he set foot on the restricted territory of North Sentinel Island in a bid to meet people from the reclusive Sentinelese tribe.
He left a can of Diet Coke and a coconut as offering for the tribe this time after he failed to contact the Sentinelese. He shot a video of the island on his camera and collected some sand samples before returning to his boat.
“It may be claimed to be an adventure trip, but the fact is that there has been a violation of Indian laws. Outsiders meeting Sentinelese could endanger the tribe’s survival,” said a senior police officer, requesting anonymity as he isn’t authorized to speak about the case under investigation.
Polyakov is suspected of violating Indian laws that carry a possible sentence of up to five years in prison and a fine.
Visitors are banned from traveling within 3 miles of North Sentinel Island, whose population has been isolated from the rest of the world for thousands of years. The inhabitants use spears and bows and arrows to hunt the animals that roam the small, heavily forested island. Deeply suspicious of outsiders, they attack anyone who lands onto their beaches.
In 2018, an American missionary who landed illegally on the beach was killed by North Sentinelese Islanders who apparently shot him with arrows and then buried his body on the beach. In 2006, the Sentinelese killed two fishermen who had accidentally landed on the shore.
An official from the US consulate visited Polyakov in jail earlier this week. “We take our commitment to assist US citizens abroad seriously and are monitoring the situation,” the US Embassy in New Delhi said in a statement, while declining to divulge further details due to privacy considerations.
Police said Polyakov had conducted detailed research on sea conditions, tides and accessibility to the island before starting his journey. He stayed on the beach for about an hour, blowing a whistle to attract attention but got no response from the islanders.
On his return he was spotted by local fishermen, who informed the authorities and Polyakov was arrested in Port Blair, an archipelago nearly 750 miles east of India’s mainland.


France hails ‘positive process’ as Europe, US discuss Ukraine ceasefire

France hails ‘positive process’ as Europe, US discuss Ukraine ceasefire
Updated 18 April 2025
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France hails ‘positive process’ as Europe, US discuss Ukraine ceasefire

France hails ‘positive process’ as Europe, US discuss Ukraine ceasefire
  • US Secretary of State Marco Rubio pressed a US peace plan during the discussions in Paris
  • Russian strikes overnight Thursday killed two people and wounded dozens of others in the cities of Kharkiv and Sumy

Paris: France said talks Thursday between top US and European officials on the war in Ukraine had launched a “positive process,” as Europe seeks to be included in efforts to end the three-year-old conflict.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio again pressed a US peace plan during the discussions in Paris.
The meetings included French President Emmanuel Macron, Rubio, US envoy Steve Witkoff, British Foreign Secretary David Lammy, German officials and Ukrainian ministers.
They took place as US President Donald Trump’s push to end the war stumbles, with Russia’s President Vladimir Putin rebuffing a complete truce.
“Today in Paris, we launched a positive process in which the Europeans are involved,” the French presidency said.
A new meeting of envoys from the United States, France, Britain, Germany and Ukraine will take place next week in London, it added.
Rubio later called Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov to discuss the Paris meeting.
“President Trump and the United States want this war to end, and have now presented to all parties the outlines of a durable and lasting peace,” Rubio told his Russian counterpart, according to the US State Department.
“The encouraging reception in Paris to the US framework shows that peace is possible if all parties commit to reaching an agreement,” he added.
In a statement, Russia’s foreign ministry said Lavrov “reaffirmed Moscow’s readiness to continue collaborative efforts with American counterparts to comprehensively address the root causes of the Ukrainian crisis.”
Lavrov and Rubio agreed on the need to maintain “prompt communication channels,” in light of the London meeting next week, the statement said.

’Europeans at the table’
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, who has clashed with Trump, praised the talks, saying it was important to work toward “real security” in Europe.
Posting on Telegram, Zelensky’s chief of staff Andriy Yermak on Friday thanked Macron “for your efforts in the process of achieving a just and lasting peace for Ukraine.”
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov however dismissed the Paris meeting, saying earlier that Europeans seemed to have “a focus on continuing the war.”
France and Britain have sought a coordinated European response to defending Ukraine, during the conflict and in any ceasefire, after Trump shocked them by opening talks with Russia.
Macron said the Paris talks were “a very important occasion for convergence,” as everybody wanted “a robust and sustainable peace.”
French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot told reporters the talks had made a breakthrough because the United States, Ukraine, and European ministers had “gathered around the same table” when Europe had previously feared it would be excluded from decision-making.
The United States “has understood that a just and sustainable peace ... can only be achieved with the consent and contribution of Europeans,” he added later on LCI television.

Two dead in fresh strikes
Russia’s strikes, which have recently killed dozens of people including children in Ukrainian cities, have increased pressure for new diplomatic efforts to end the conflict.
Russian strikes overnight Thursday killed two people and wounded dozens of others in the cities of Kharkiv and Sumy, local and regional authorities said Friday.
Zelensky earlier accused Witkoff of “spreading Russian narratives” after the US envoy suggested a peace deal with Russia hinged on the status of Ukraine’s occupied territories.
“I believe that Mr.Witkoff has taken on the strategy of the Russian side,” Zelensky told reporters.
“It is very dangerous, because he is consciously or unconsciously, I don’t know, spreading Russian narratives.”
Witkoff said this week that Putin was open to “permanent peace” after talks with the Kremlin chief in Saint Petersburg, their third meeting since Trump returned to the White House in January.
Putin last month rejected a US proposal for a full and unconditional ceasefire, after Kyiv gave its backing to the idea.
He also suggested Zelensky be removed from office, sparking an angry response from Trump who said he was “very angry” with the Russian leader.
France’s Defense Minister Sebastien Lecornu held talks in Washington on Thursday with US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, who called on France to boost military spending, a Pentagon spokesman said.
“The secretary urged France to increase defense spending and, alongside other NATO allies, take primary responsibility for Europe’s conventional defense,” the spokesman said.