ALGIERS: An Algerian military tribunal has opened the high-profile trial of a brother of former President Abdelaziz Bouteflika and two ex-intelligence chiefs.
Heavy security, with roadblocks leading to the courthouse in Blida, south of Algiers, marked Monday’s opening of the trial of Said Bouteflika, Gen. Athmane Tartag and Gen. Mohamed Mediene — a man whose name once made Algerians tremble.
The three, plus Workers Party leader Louisa Hanoune, a fixture on Algeria’s political scene, are charged with plotting against the state and undermining the army.
The charges center on March meetings of the four that Hanoune’s lawyer, Rachid Khane, said aimed to examine Algeria’s political situation amid protest marches seeking Bouteflika’s resignation.
Some within the administration saw more sinister designs, reportedly including plotting to fire army chief Ahmed Gaid Salah.
Top Algerian figures go on military trial for alleged plot
Top Algerian figures go on military trial for alleged plot
- Heavy security, with roadblocks leading to the courthouse in Blida, south of Algiers, marked Monday’s opening of the trial
Israeli military says it will pursue every successor of Iran’s Khamenei
- The clerical body that will choose Iran’s next supreme leader has more or less reached a majority consensus
- Minor disagreement over whether their final decision must follow an in-person meeting or instead be issued
The Israeli military warned it would continue pursuing every successor of Iran’s next supreme leader.
In a post on X in Farsi, the Israeli military also warned it would pursue every person who seeks to appoint a successor for Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, referring to the clerical body charged with choosing the Islamic Republic’s supreme leader.
The clerical body that will choose Iran’s next supreme leader, succeeding the slain Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, has more or less reached a majority consensus, Assembly of Experts member Ayatollah Mohammadmehdi Mirbaqeri said on Sunday.
The Mehr news agency quoted him as saying “some obstacles” still needed to be resolved regarding the process.
On Saturday, a senior cleric in the Assembly of Experts said its members would meet “within one day” to choose the leader.
Iranian media said the group had a minor disagreement over whether their final decision must follow an in-person meeting or instead be issued without adhering to this formality.
Ayatollah Mohsen Heidari Alekasir, another member of the Assembly of Experts, said in a video released by Nournews on Sunday that an in-person meeting by the assembly for a final vote was not possible under current conditions.
He said a candidate had been picked, based on the late supreme leader’s advice that Iran’s top leader should “be hated by the enemy” instead of praised by it.
“Even the Great Satan (US) has mentioned his name,” Heidari Alekasir said of the chosen successor, days after US President Donald Trump said that Khamenei’s son, Mojtaba, was an “unacceptable” choice for him.
