Headline

More Than 700 Sentenced To Prison Over French Riots

Published

2 years ago

July 19, 2023

Editor

More than 700 people have been sentenced to prison over riots in France late last month, the country’s justice minister said Wednesday while lauding the fast-track trials that have alarmed some defence lawyers.

In total, 1,278 verdicts have been handed down, with over 95 per cent of defendants convicted on a range of charges from vandalism, theft, arson or attacking police officers.

Although minor prison terms can usually be converted into a non-custodial punishment — usually the wearing of an electronic bracelet — around six hundred people have already been jailed, Justice Minister Eric Dupond-Moretti said.

“It was extremely important to have a response that was firm and systematic,” he told RTL radio. “It was essential that we reestablish national order.”

The most intense urban violence in France since 2005 began on June 27 after a police officer shot dead a 17-year-old French-Algerian boy during a traffic stop west of Paris, in an incident recorded by a passerby.

The riots were contained after four nights of serious clashes thanks to the deployment of around 45,000 security forces, including elite police special forces and armoured vehicles.

Dupond-Moretti had led calls for courts to hand down harsh sentences as a deterrent, with some staying open over the weekend during the clashes to handle a backlog of cases.

Many suspects faced immediate appearances under a fast-track system that has raised concerns about the fairness of the judicial process and the heavy sentences for sometimes first offenders.

The average age of the over 3,700 people arrested was just 17, with the minors appearing in separate children’s courts.

Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin said that around 60 per cent of those arrested had no previous criminal record.

Facing widespread shock and anger over the destruction, the government has also encouraged police and prosecutors to investigate people who had used social media such as Snapchat to encourage or organise rioting.

Last week, a 38-year-old man from a suburb of Lyon was sentenced to one year in prison after being found guilty of public incitement of crime with messages on Snapchat.

Dupond-Moretti said it was important to “remind young people that Snapchat is not a hide-out” and if they use it to organise a crime “we can find them.”

President Emmanuel Macron told a meeting of mayors that it might be necessary in the future to “cut off” social media during major civil unrest, but ministers later said the idea was not under active consideration.

The government has floated the idea of new legislation to enable the state to fine parents whose children take part in the rioting.

Existing legislation means parents can already be prosecuted for “compromising the health, security, morality and education of their child” by failing to uphold their legal obligations.

Dupond-Moretti said some parents would be pursued over the riots but on a case-by-case basis.

“It’s not about punishing the mother who works at night and is bringing up her child on her own,” he said.

Around 23,000 fires were lit during the riots, 273 buildings belonging to the security forces were damaged, along with 168 schools and 105 mayor’s offices, according to a provisional tally from the interior ministry.

Elsewhere, prosecutors in the western city of Lorient said Tuesday they had opened an enquiry into claims that a group of young men, possibly marine commandoes from a nearby military base, helped police detain rioters.

The number of people sentenced to prison over the latest riots exceeds the number after the 2005 unrest when around 400 people were sent to jail.

AFP

Headline

Morocco Jails Student One Year Over Gen Z Protest

Published

6 hours ago

October 17, 2025

Editor

A student arrested during Morocco’s youth-led protests has been sentenced to one year in prison, his lawyer told AFP on Friday.

The case marks the first publicly known prison sentence linked to the kingdom’s Gen Z demonstrations, which have been held near-daily between late September and last week to demand social and political reforms.

The student was charged with “participating in an unauthorised and unarmed gathering” and “insulting the judicial police by providing false information”, lawyer Mohamed Nouini said.

“The ruling is unfair, and we will appeal,” he added, arguing that sit-ins did not require authorisation as per a Supreme Court precedent.

The lawyer said his client was arrested on September 30, three days after the protests erupted in the North African country.

According to a report by news website Hespress, citing another lawyer, the student’s arrest was “an unfortunate coincidence” as he was in Casablanca for a family visit.

The other lawyer, Mohamed Lakhdar, told the judge the student had “not insulted” police nor provided false information, telling them he “was just a student”, according to the report.

Hundreds were arrested during the early days of the largely peaceful demonstrations.

Some cities had seen spates of violence and acts of vandalism, while authorities have said three people were killed by police acting in “self-defence” during clashes in a village near Agadir.

The Moroccan Association for Human Rights (AMDH) has said roughly 550 people are facing prosecution on suspicion of joining the protests, with some still in detention.

The organisers of the online-based movement behind the nationwide protests, the GenZ 212 youth collective, remain unknown.

The collective has called for “peaceful sit-ins” on Saturday and demanded the release of those arrested during the demonstrations.

The protest came after the deaths of eight pregnant women during Caesarean sections at a hospital in Agadir.

But protesters have also demanded reforms to the education system and a change of government.
AFP

Headline

Trump Refiles $15bn Defamation Lawsuit Against New York Times

Published

7 hours ago

October 17, 2025

Editor

US President Donald Trump has refiled a $15 billion defamation lawsuit against The New York Times, court documents show, weeks after it was thrown out by a federal judge.

Trump has intensified his long-established hostility toward the media since his return to the White House, and the suit is one of numerous attacks against news organizations he accuses of bias against him.

The Times’ complaint was thrown out in September because District Judge Steven Merryday took exception to its florid writing, repetitive and laudatory praise of Trump, and its excessive 85-page length.

The suit filed Thursday in Florida and seen by AFP runs to less than half the length, at 40 pages.

It takes aim at “false, defamatory, and malicious publications”, highlighting a book and two Times articles.

The lawsuit named the newspaper, three Times reporters and the publisher Penguin Random House as defendants.

It accuses them of making defamatory statements against Trump “with actual malice.”

“The statements in question wrongly defame and disparage President Trump’s hard-earned professional reputation, which he painstakingly built for decades” before entering the White House, the lawsuit says.

The court was asked to grant compensatory damages of not less than $15 billion and additional punitive damages “in an amount to be determined upon trial.”

Trump’s attacks on media outlets have seen him restrict access, badmouth journalists critical of his administration, and bring lawsuits demanding huge amounts of compensation.

In July, Trump sued media magnate Rupert Murdoch and The Wall Street Journal for at least $10 billion after it reported on the existence of a book and a letter he allegedly sent to sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

Paramount settled Trump’s lawsuit over election coverage on CBS News’ flagship show “60 Minutes” for $16 million the same month. He had alleged that the program deceptively edited an interview with his 2024 election rival, Kamala Harris, in her favor.

AFP

Headline

Italian Journalist’s Car Bombed, No Casualties

Published

7 hours ago

October 17, 2025

Editor

A bomb destroyed the vehicle of a prominent Italian journalist overnight, without causing casualties, his investigative television news show announced Friday.

Sigfrido Ranucci’s car blew up in an explosion in Pomezia, near Rome, that also damaged the family’s other car and the house next door, according to Report, which broadcasts on RAI public television.

“The force of the explosion was so strong that it could have killed anyone passing by at the moment,” it said in a statement on X.

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni strongly condemned what she called a “serious act of intimidation”.

Inside Kwara Community, Ijara-Isin, Where Residents Have Own ‘Currency’

“The freedom and independence of information are non-negotiable values of our democracies, which we will continue to defend,” she wrote on X.

Interior Minister Matteo Piantedosi said he had ordered an increase in the journalist’s security “to the maximum”.

He called the attack a “cowardly and extremely serious act that represents an attack not only on the person but on the freedom of the press and the fundamental values of our democracy”.

The Report show is known for its in-depth investigative reports.

According to the campaign group Reporters Without Borders (RSF), Italy ranks 49th in the world in terms of press freedom.

“Journalists who investigate organised crime and corruption are systematically threatened and sometimes subjected to physical violence for their investigative work,” it said in its latest update.

About 20 journalists currently live under permanent police protection after being the targets of intimidation and attacks, it added.

AFP