NICE: A French farmer who has become a symbol of Europe’s migrant crisis after helping Africans to slip into the country was given a suspended fine of €3,000 ($3,200) on Friday and said he would never stop assisting those in need.
Cedric Herrou, 37, was convicted for illegally helping migrants across the French-Italian border under the noses of the French police.
The sentence is far lighter than the eight-month suspended prison term that prosecutors had requested.
Prosecutors had also wanted his vehicle to be confiscated and restrictions placed on his driving license limiting him to using it for his work. The court rejected both requests.
Herrou was unrepentant after the verdict, saying migrants from poor countries still needed his help and that he would continue to give it.
“We will continue to act and neither the threats of officials or one or two politicians will stop us,” he told a small crowd of supporters outside the court building in Nice.
“It will only be a victory when we do not have to do this anymore and I can go back to my normal life and my work,” he added.
Herrou was found not guilty of putting up around 50 migrants from Eritrea in an abandoned holiday camp.
At his trial last month, he said he was compelled to help migrants “because it has to be done... Families are suffering.”
His lawyer Zia Oloumi said the verdict was “fair,” adding: “This shows that the court understood that he was acting for humanitarian reasons.”
Herrou also defended his decision to put up five minors — a Sudanese youth and four Eritreans — at his home, saying it was up to local officials “to face up to their responsibilities.”
He is one of several people to appear in court in southern France recently charged with illegally assisting migrants who have traveled up through Europe after crossing the Mediterranean in rickety boats.
Their cases have pitched the spirit of solidarity against the letter of the law at a time when border controls and migration have become hot issues in the run-up to this year’s presidential and legislative elections in France.
On January 7, a court acquitted researcher Pierre-Alain Mannoni, who had faced a six-month suspended jail sentence for aiding Eritrean migrants who entered France from Italy.
France has accepted relatively few migrants compared with the 900,000 taken in by Germany in 2015, but many travel though the country, often on their way to attempt to reach Britain or other countries in northern Europe.
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French farmer given suspended fine for helping migrants
French farmer given suspended fine for helping migrants
Rubio warns Iraq on Iran ties as Al-Maliki sets return
WASHINGTON: US Secretary of State Marco Rubio warned Iraq on Sunday against a pro-Iranian government as the expected return of Nouri Al-Maliki as prime minister stirs Washington’s concern.
Maliki, who left power in 2014 following heated pressure from the United States, has been chosen by Iraq’s largest Shiite bloc, which would put him in line to be nominated prime minister.
Rubio, in a telephone call with incumbent Prime Minister Mohammed Shia Al-Sudani, voiced hope the next government will work to make Iraq “a force for stability, prosperity and security in the Middle East.”
“The secretary emphasized that a government controlled by Iran cannot successfully put Iraq’s own interests first, keep Iraq out of regional conflicts or advance the mutually beneficial partnership between the United States and Iraq,” Rubio said, according to State Department spokesman Tommy Pigott.
A pro-Iranian government in Iraq would be a rare boon for Tehran’s clerical state after it suffered major setbacks at home and in the region.
The Islamic republic has killed thousands of Iranians since mass protests erupted in late December.
Since the October 7, 2023 attacks, Israel has hit Iran both with strikes inside the country and heavy blows against Tehran’s Lebanese ally Hezbollah, while Iran lost its main Arab ally with the fall of Bashar Assad in Syria.
An Iraqi political source told AFP that the United States had conveyed that it “holds a negative view of previous governments led by former prime minister Maliki.”
In a letter, US representatives said that while the selection of the prime minister is an Iraqi decision, “the United States will make its own sovereign decisions regarding the next government in line with American interests.”
The United States wields key leverage over Iraq as the country’s oil export revenue is largely held at the Federal Reserve Bank in New York, in an arrangement reached after the 2003 US invasion that toppled Saddam Hussein.
Chief among US demands is that Iraq prevent a resurgence of Shiite armed groups backed by Iran. Sudani, who took office in 2022, has won US confidence through his delicate efforts to curb violence by the groups.
Maliki initially took office in 2006 with support of the United States as he strongly backed US military efforts against Al-Qaeda in Iraq and other Sunni militants.
But the United States eventually soured on Maliki, believing he pushed an excessively sectarian agenda that helped give rise to the Islamic State extremist movement.
Iraq’s parliament meets Tuesday to elect a new president, who holds a largely ceremonial role but will appoint a prime minister.
Maliki, who left power in 2014 following heated pressure from the United States, has been chosen by Iraq’s largest Shiite bloc, which would put him in line to be nominated prime minister.
Rubio, in a telephone call with incumbent Prime Minister Mohammed Shia Al-Sudani, voiced hope the next government will work to make Iraq “a force for stability, prosperity and security in the Middle East.”
“The secretary emphasized that a government controlled by Iran cannot successfully put Iraq’s own interests first, keep Iraq out of regional conflicts or advance the mutually beneficial partnership between the United States and Iraq,” Rubio said, according to State Department spokesman Tommy Pigott.
A pro-Iranian government in Iraq would be a rare boon for Tehran’s clerical state after it suffered major setbacks at home and in the region.
The Islamic republic has killed thousands of Iranians since mass protests erupted in late December.
Since the October 7, 2023 attacks, Israel has hit Iran both with strikes inside the country and heavy blows against Tehran’s Lebanese ally Hezbollah, while Iran lost its main Arab ally with the fall of Bashar Assad in Syria.
An Iraqi political source told AFP that the United States had conveyed that it “holds a negative view of previous governments led by former prime minister Maliki.”
In a letter, US representatives said that while the selection of the prime minister is an Iraqi decision, “the United States will make its own sovereign decisions regarding the next government in line with American interests.”
The United States wields key leverage over Iraq as the country’s oil export revenue is largely held at the Federal Reserve Bank in New York, in an arrangement reached after the 2003 US invasion that toppled Saddam Hussein.
Chief among US demands is that Iraq prevent a resurgence of Shiite armed groups backed by Iran. Sudani, who took office in 2022, has won US confidence through his delicate efforts to curb violence by the groups.
Maliki initially took office in 2006 with support of the United States as he strongly backed US military efforts against Al-Qaeda in Iraq and other Sunni militants.
But the United States eventually soured on Maliki, believing he pushed an excessively sectarian agenda that helped give rise to the Islamic State extremist movement.
Iraq’s parliament meets Tuesday to elect a new president, who holds a largely ceremonial role but will appoint a prime minister.
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