DAR EL BEÏDA, Algeria: The powerful younger brother of deposed late Algerian president Abdelaziz Bouteflika was sentenced Tuesday to two years in prison for “obstructing the course of justice,” the official APS news agency reported.
President Bouteflika was forced to resign in the face of mass protests against his bid for a fifth term in office in 2019, and died in September aged 84.
His departure was followed by a string of prosecutions against senior members of his inner circle, most prominently his brother Said who had been seen as the real power behind the throne after the longtime ruler suffered a stroke in 2013.
The prosecution had called for seven years’ jail for Said, who was charged with other former officials for “abuse of office,” “inciting the falsification of official documents,” “obstruction of justice” and “contempt of court.”
The main accused at the trial in Dar El Beida, east of Algiers, was former justice minister Tayeb Louh.
He was handed six years in prison while tycoon Ali Haddad was sentenced to two years, APS said. Both were close to the former president.
Ex-inspector general of the ministry of justice Tayeb Belhachemi was also sentenced to two years in prison.
The court acquitted six other defendants.
Said Bouteflika, 63, was arrested in May 2019 and sentenced to 15 years for “plotting against the state and the army” during the final days of his brother’s rule.
On January 2, he was acquitted of those charges by a military appeals court, but was handed to a civil court to face trial on corruption charges.
Algeria court jails brother of deposed president Bouteflika
https://arab.news/zqn47
Algeria court jails brother of deposed president Bouteflika
Iraq announces complete withdrawal of US-led coalition from federal territory
- The vast majority of coalition forces had withdrawn from Iraqi bases under a 2024 deal between Baghdad and Washington
- US and allied troops had been deployed to Iraq and Syria since 2014 to fight the Daesh group
BAGHDAD: Iraq said on Sunday US-led coalition forces had finished withdrawing from bases within the country’s federal territory, which excludes the autonomous northern Kurdistan region.
“We announce today... the completion of the evacuation of all military bases and leadership headquarters in the official federal areas of Iraq of advisers” of the US-led coalition, the military committee tasked with overseeing the end of the coalition’s mission said.
With the withdrawal, “these sites come under the full control of Iraqi security forces,” it said in the statement, adding that they would transition to “the stage of bilateral security relations with the United States.”
The vast majority of coalition forces had withdrawn from Iraqi bases under a 2024 deal between Baghdad and Washington outlining the end of the mission in Iraq by the end of 2025 and by September 2026 in the Kurdistan region.
US and allied troops had been deployed to Iraq and Syria since 2014 to fight the Daesh group, which had seized large swathes of both countries to declare their so-called “caliphate.”
The militant group, also known as “Islamic State,” was territorially defeated in Iraq in 2017 and in Syria in 2019, but continues to operate sleeper cells.
The vast majority of coalition troops withdrew from Iraq over previous stages, with only advisers remaining in the country.
The military committee on Sunday said Iraqi forces were now “fully capable of preventing the reappearance of IS in Iraq and its infiltration across borders.”
“Coordination with the international coalition will continue with regards to completely eliminating IS’s presence in Syria,” it added.
It pointed to “the coalition’s role in Iraq offering cross-border logistical support for operations in Syria, through their presence at an air base in Irbil,” the capital of Iraq’s Kurdistan region.
In December, two US soldiers and a civilian interpreter were killed in Syria in an attack blamed on IS, sparking fears of a resurgence in the country.
The statement added that anti-IS operations would be coordinated with the coalition through the Ain Assad base in Anbar province in western Iraq.
IS attacks in Iraq have massively declined in recent years, but the group maintains a presence in the country’s mountainous areas.
A UN Security Council report in August said: “In Iraq, the group has focused on rebuilding networks along the Syrian border and restoring capacity in the Badia region.”
