KENOSHA, US: Kyle Rittenhouse, the American teenager who shot dead two men during protests and riots against police brutality in Wisconsin last year, was acquitted of all charges on Friday after a high-profile and politically divisive trial.
A jury found Rittenhouse, 18, not guilty of reckless and intentional homicide and other charges stemming from the shootings that took place in August 2020 in Kenosha, Wisconsin.
Rittenhouse, who claimed he acted in self-defense, sobbed and shook as the verdict was read, sank into his chair and embraced his lawyer before rushing out of the courtroom.
President Joe Biden warned against violence following the verdict in the closely watched trial and appealed for calm.
“While the verdict in Kenosha will leave many Americans feeling angry and concerned, myself included, we must acknowledge that the jury has spoken,” Biden said in a statement. “I urge everyone to express their views peacefully, consistent with the rule of law.”
There were scattered cheers and clapping from supporters of Rittenhouse outside the Kenosha courthouse after the verdict.
Several opponents marched around beating drums and chanting “Guilty, guilty, the whole system is guilty as hell.”
Rittenhouse testified during the two-week trial that he shot dead two men and wounded another with his AR-15 semi-automatic rifle after being attacked.
Prosecutors dismissed the self-defense claim, saying it was the then 17-year-old Rittenhouse who “provoked” the events during a night of unrest in Kenosha.
Rittenhouse faced five charges — one count of intentional homicide, one count of reckless homicide, one count of attempted intentional homicide and two counts of recklessly endangering safety.
The most serious charge — intentional homicide — carried a mandatory sentence of life in prison.
The jury deliberated for a total of 26 hours over four days before delivering a unanimous verdict of not guilty on all counts.
The case drew national attention because it arose from the Black Lives Matter demonstrations that swept the country last year and featured a controversial mix of guns, racial tensions and vigilantism.
Civil unrest erupted in Kenosha, a city of 100,000 on the shores of Lake Michigan, in August 2020 after a white policeman shot a Black man, Jacob Blake, in the back several times during an arrest, leaving him paralyzed.
In right-wing and pro-gun circles, Rittenhouse, who claimed he went to Kenosha to protect businesses from looters and act as a medic, was hailed as a heroic figure.
Prosecutors said Rittenhouse — who lived in the neighboring state of Illinois — had come to Kenosha as a self-appointed “junior policeman” and “made a series of reckless decisions.”
“Nobody deputized him,” prosecutor Thomas Binger said.
Shannon Watts, founder of gun control group Moms Demand Action, was among those denouncing the not guilty finding.
“That a teenager could travel across state lines to a protest he had nothing to do with; shoot three people, killing two; and face no criminal consequences is a miscarriage of justice and an indictment of our criminal justice system,” Watts said.
New York Mayor Bill de Blasio, a Democrat, said the verdict “sends a horrible message to this country.” “To call this a miscarriage of justice is an understatement,” he said.
The NAACP, the African-American civil rights group, said the verdict is a “travesty and fails to deliver justice on behalf of those who lost their lives.”
“A system that legitimizes vigilante murder is deeply broken,” tweeted Wisconsin Representative Gwen Moore, a Democrat.
Republican lawmakers welcomed the not guilty finding.
“Justice has been served,” said Wisconsin Senator Ron Johnson. “I hope everyone can accept the verdict, remain peaceful, and let the community of Kenosha heal and rebuild.”
Former president Donald Trump, in a statement released on the Twitter account of his chief spokeswoman Liz Harrington, said: “Congratulations to Kyle Rittenhouse for being found INNOCENT of all charges. It“s called being found NOT GUILTY — And by the way, if that’s not self defense, nothing is!“
Wisconsin Governor Tony Evers has put 500 members of the state National Guard on standby in the event of trouble.
In his statement, Biden said he had spoken to Evers and offered assistance if needed to ensure public safety.
Brianna Nelson, 37, a member of an advocacy group that works to deescalate tense situations, told AFP outside the court she was disappointed but not surprised by the verdict.
“It’s a time for unity in the community,” Nelson said. “It’s an educational moment for both sides. We don’t have to agree but we have to live together peacefully.”
Speaking to reporters after the verdict, Rittenhouse’s attorney, Mark Richards, said he believes his client is remorseful.
“He is in counseling for PTSD,” Richards said. “He doesn’t sleep at night.
“I personally don’t like people carrying AR-15s around,” Richards added, but “he was legal in having that firearm.”
US teen Kyle Rittenhouse cleared over protester deaths
https://arab.news/rsesb
US teen Kyle Rittenhouse cleared over protester deaths
Afghanistan says it thwarted Pakistani airstrike on Bagram Air Base as fighting enters fourth day
- The fighting has been the most severe between the neighbors for years
- Pakistan accuses Taliban government of harboring militant groups that stage attacks against it
KABUL: Afghanistan thwarted attempted airstrikes on Bagram Air Base, the former US military base north of Kabul, authorities said Sunday, while cross-border fighting between Pakistan and Afghanistan stretched into a fourth day.
The fighting has been the most severe between the neighbors for years, with Pakistan declaring that it’s in “open war” with Afghanistan.
The conflict has alarmed the international community, particularly as the area is one where other militant organizations, including Al-Qaeda and the Daesh group, still have a presence and have been trying to resurface.
Pakistan accuses Afghanistan’s Taliban government of harboring militant groups that stage attacks against it and also of allying with its archrival India.
Border clashes in October killed dozens of soldiers, civilians and suspected militants until a Qatari-mediated ceasefire ended the intense fighting. But several rounds of peace talks in Turkiye in November failed to produce a lasting agreement, and the two sides have occasionally traded fire since then.
On Sunday, the police headquarters of Parwan province, where Bagram is located, said in a statement that several Pakistani military jets had entered Afghan airspace “and attempted to bomb Bagram Air Base” at around 5 a.m.
The statement said Afghan forces responded with “anti-aircraft and missile defense systems” and had managed to thwart the attack.
There was no immediate response from Pakistan’s military or government regarding Kabul’s claim of attempted airstrikes on Bagram or the ongoing fighting.
Bagram was the United States’ largest military base in Afghanistan. It was taken over by the Taliban as they swept across the country and took control in the wake of the chaotic US withdrawal from the country in 2021. Last year, US President Donald Trump suggested he wanted to reestablish a US presence at the base.
The current fighting began when Afghanistan launched a broad cross-border attack on Thursday night, saying it was in retaliation for Pakistani airstrikes the previous Sunday.
Pakistan had said its airstrike had targeted the outlawed Pakistani Taliban, also known as Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan, or TTP. Afghanistan had said only civilians were killed.
The TTP militant group, which is separate but closely allied with Afghanistan’s ruling Taliban, operates inside Pakistan, where it has been blamed for hundreds of deaths in bombings and other attacks over the years.
Pakistan accuses Afghanistan’s Taliban government of providing a safe haven within Afghanistan for the TTP, an accusation that Afghanistan denies.
After Thursday’s Afghan attack, Pakistani Defense Minister Khawaja Mohammad Asif declared that “our patience has now run out. Now it is open war between us.”
In the ongoing fighting, each side claims to have killed hundreds of the other side’s forces — and both governments put their own casualties at drastically lower numbers.
Two Pakistani security officials said that Pakistani ground forces were still in control on Sunday of a key Afghan post and a 32-square-kilometer area in the southern Zhob sector near Kandahar province, after having seized it during fighting Friday. The captured post and surrounding area remain under Pakistani control, they added. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity, because they weren’t authorized to speak publicly.
In Kabul, the Afghan government rejected Pakistan’s claims. Deputy government spokesman Hamdullah Fitrat called the reports “baseless.”
Afghan officials said that fighting had continued overnight and into Sunday in the border areas.
The police command spokesman for Nangarhar province, Said Tayyeb Hammad, said that anti-aircraft missiles were used from the provincial capital, Jalalabad, and surrounding areas on Pakistani fighter jets flying overhead Sunday morning.
Defense Ministry spokesman Enayatulah Khowarazmi said that Afghan forces had launched counterattacks with snipers across the border from Nangarhar, Paktia, Khost and Kandahar provinces overnight. He said that two Pakistani drones had been shot down and dozens of Pakistani soldiers had been killed.
Fitrat said that Pakistani drone attacks hit civilian homes in Nangarhar province late Saturday, killing a woman and a child, while mortar fire killed another civilian when it hit a home in Paktia province.
There was no immediate response to the claims from Pakistani officials.
