NEW YORK: Disgraced R&B superstar R. Kelly was sentenced Wednesday to 30 years in prison for using his fame to sexually abuse young fans, including some who were just children, in a systematic scheme that went on for decades.
Through tears and anger, several of Kelly’s accusers told a court in New York City, and the singer himself, that he had misled and preyed upon them.
“You made me do things that broke my spirit. I literally wished I would die because of how low you made me feel,” said one unnamed survivor, directly addressing Kelly, who kept his hands folded and his eyes downcast.
“Do you remember that?” she asked.
Kelly, 55, didn’t give a statement and showed no reaction on hearing his penalty, which also included a $100,000 fine. He has denied wrongdoing, and he plans to appeal his conviction.
The Grammy-winning, multiplatinum-selling songwriter was found guilty last year of racketeering and sex trafficking at a trial that gave voice to accusers who had previously wondered if their stories were being ignored because they were Black women.
Victims “are no longer the preyed-on individuals we once were,” another one of his accusers said at the sentencing.
“There wasn’t a day in my life, up until this moment, that I actually believed that the judicial system would come through for Black and brown girls,” she added outside court.
A third woman, sobbing and sniffling as she addressed the court, also said Kelly’s conviction renewed her faith in the legal system.
The woman said Kelly victimized her after she went to a concert when she was 17.
“I was afraid, naive and didn’t know how to handle the situation,” she said, so she didn’t speak up at the time.
“Silence,” she said, “is a very lonely place.”
Kelly’s lawyer, Jennifer Bonjean, said he was “devastated” by the sentence and saddened by what he had heard.
“He’s a human being. He feels what other people are feeling. But that doesn’t mean that he can accept responsibility in the way that the government would like him to and other people would like him to. Because he disagrees with the characterizations that have been made about him,” she said.
The sentence caps a slow-motion fall for Kelly, who is known for work including the 1996 hit “I Believe I Can Fly” and the cult classic “Trapped in the Closet,” a multipart tale of sexual betrayal and intrigue.
He was adored by legions of fans and sold millions of albums even after allegations about his abuse of young girls began circulating publicly in the 1990s. He beat child pornography charges in Chicago in 2008, when a jury acquitted him.
Widespread outrage over Kelly’s sexual misconduct didn’t emerge until the #MeToo reckoning, reaching a crescendo after the release of the documentary “Surviving R. Kelly.”
“I hope this sentencing serves as its own testimony that it doesn’t matter how powerful, rich or famous your abuser may be or how small they make you feel — justice only hears the truth,” Brooklyn US Attorney Breon Peace said Wednesday.
A Brooklyn federal court jury convicted the singer, born Robert Sylvester Kelly, after hearing that he used his entourage of managers and aides to meet girls and keep them obedient, an operation that prosecutors said amounted to a criminal enterprise.
Several accusers testified that Kelly subjected them to perverse and sadistic whims when they were underage.
The accusers alleged they were ordered to sign nondisclosure forms and were subjected to threats and punishments such as violent spankings if they broke what one referred to as “Rob’s rules.”
Some said they believed the videotapes he shot of them having sex would be used against them if they exposed what was happening.
According to testimony, Kelly gave several accusers herpes without disclosing he had an STD, coerced a teenage boy to join him for sex with a naked girl who emerged from underneath a boxing ring in his garage, and shot a shaming video that showed one victim smearing feces on her face as punishment for breaking his rules.
“The horrors your victims endured,” US District Judge Ann Donnelly said as she sentenced him. “No price was too high to pay for your happiness.”
Lizzette Martinez was a 17-year-old aspiring singer when she met Kelly at a Florida mall. She was promised mentorship but quickly ended up “a sex slave,” she said Wednesday outside court.
Asked whether Kelly’s 30-year sentence was sufficient punishment, she paused before answering.
“I, personally, don’t think it’s enough,” she said, “but I’m pleased with it.”
At the trial, evidence also was presented about a fraudulent marriage scheme hatched to protect Kelly after he feared he had impregnated R&B phenom Aaliyah in 1994 when she was just 15. Witnesses said they were married in matching jogging suits using a license falsely listing her age as 18; he was 27 at the time.
Aaliyah worked with Kelly, who wrote and produced her 1994 debut album, “Age Ain’t Nothing But A Number.” She died in a plane crash in 2001 at age 22.
Kelly didn’t testify at his trial, but his then-lawyers portrayed his accusers as girlfriends and groupies who weren’t forced to do anything against their will and stayed with him because they enjoyed the perks of his lifestyle.
His current lawyers had argued he should get no more than 10 years in prison because he had a traumatic childhood “involving severe, prolonged childhood sexual abuse, poverty, and violence.”
As an adult with “literacy deficiencies,” the star was “repeatedly defrauded and financially abused, often by the people he paid to protect him,” his lawyers said.
The Associated Press does not name people who say they have been sexually assaulted or abused, unless they come forward publicly, as Martinez has. Several women who spoke at Kelly’s sentencing were identified only by first names or pseudonyms.
Kelly has been jailed without bail since in 2019. He still faces child pornography and obstruction-of-justice charges in Chicago, where a trial is scheduled to begin Aug. 15.
R&B superstar R. Kelly sentenced to 30 years in sex trafficking case
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R&B superstar R. Kelly sentenced to 30 years in sex trafficking case
- Several accusers testified that Kelly subjected them to perverse and sadistic whims when they were underage
- Kelly was “devastated” by the sentence and saddened by what he had heard, says his lawyer, Jennifer Bonjean
- District Judge Ann Donnelly: “The horrors your victims endured. No price was too high to pay for your happiness.”
Sunak, Scholz vow support for Ukraine for ‘as long as it takes’
Sunak embarked on a two-day trip to Europe designed to get the spotlight back on Ukraine after months of world attention on Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza
BERLIN: The leaders of Britain and Germany pledged Wednesday to back Ukraine in its war with Russia for “as long as it takes,” but the German chancellor doubled down on his refusal to deliver long-range Taurus missiles to Kyiv.
UK Premier Rishi Sunak was on his first trip to the German capital since becoming prime minister 18 months ago, after visiting Poland on Tuesday where he pledged additional money for Kyiv and announced plans to boost UK defense spending.
“We’re united on wanting to support Ukraine for as long as it takes,” Sunak told reporters, adding that Russian President Vladimir Putin’s aggression must “end in failure.”
“We’re defending the values that are incredibly important to us,” the UK leader added, standing alongside German Chancellor Olaf Scholz during a press conference at Germany’s chancellery.
Sunak embarked on a two-day trip to Europe designed to get the spotlight back on Ukraine after months of world attention on Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza.
In Poland, he pledged an additional £500 million ($617 million) for Ukraine, taking the amount of money the UK has contributed to Ukraine’s war effort to £12 billion.
Kyiv has been pleading with allies to ramp up supplies of ammunition and air defenses desperately needed to repel relentless Russian attacks.
US lawmakers eased the pressure last weekend by unblocking a $61-billion military aid package for Kyiv following six months of political wrangling.
But EU defense and foreign ministers insist that Europe must still speed up its deliveries of arms to Ukraine.
Germany has answered Kyiv’s call in recent days by saying it would send an extra Patriot air defense system to Ukraine.
But Scholz again resisted calls to send long-range Taurus missiles, which Ukraine desperately wants but which Germany fears would escalate the conflict.
“My decision is very clear” on not sending the Taurus, said Scholz.
“But my decision is also very clear that we will continue to be the biggest supporter of Ukraine in Europe,” he added.
Sunak hailed “a new chapter” in relations between Britain and Germany as they announced plans for a joint endeavour to develop remote-controlled Howitzer artillery systems that will be fitted to Boxer armored vehicles.
“At this dangerous moment for the world, the UK and Germany are standing side by side to preserve security and prosperity at home and across our continent,” Sunak said before landing in Berlin.
In Warsaw, the UK PM pledged to gradually increase UK defense spending to 2.5 percent of GDP by 2030 as NATO countries face pressure to raise defense expenditure in the face of these global threats.
Sunak said that the West was facing its most dangerous period since the end of the Cold War, with Russia’s assault on Ukraine in its third year, but also the threat of escalation in the Middle East.
More of NATO’s European members — including heavyweights France and Germany — have increased their defense spending recently to meet the alliance’s two percent of GDP target.
Sunak refused to say that NATO should increase its target to 2.5 percent but added: “We recognize we need to do more,” adding: “I do believe we are in a world where defense spending is rising.”
EU chief Ursula von der Leyen recently warned that European countries need to boost defense budgets and Brussels is set to come up with further proposals by a summit of EU leaders in June.
It has put forward a 1.5-billion-euro ($1.6-billion) strategy to step up defense production, but officials say this is nowhere near sufficient.
The UK, which quit the European Union in early 2020, is among some 20 countries to have signed up to Germany’s air defense project called the European Sky Shield Initiative.
The project would involve joint procurement for short-, medium- and long-range systems, including the German-made Iris-T, the American Patriot system and the US-Israeli Arrow 3.
France has so far declined to sign up to the pact, with officials there arguing instead for an air defense system using European equipment.
Germany charges six suspected Daesh-K members over attack plots
- The suspects are charged with founding a terrorist organization, among other things
- They intended to carry out high-profile attacks in Germany and Western Europe
BERLIN: Germany has charged six foreign nationals for allegedly plotting terrorist attacks on behalf of the Daesh Province of Khorasan (Daesh-K), the federal prosecutor’s office said on Wednesday.
The suspects, identified as Tajik citizens Mukhammadshujo A., Nuriddin K., Shamshud N., Said S., Raboni Z., and Kyrgyz citizen Abrorjon K., are charged with founding a terrorist organization, among other things.
They intended to carry out high-profile attacks in Germany and Western Europe but had no concrete plan when law enforcement intervened, according to the statement.
The suspects, who were arrested in July last year, had been in touch with Daesh-K, the Afghan offshoot of Daesh, which claimed responsibility for a mass shooting in Moscow last month in which at least 137 people were killed.
According to investigators, the suspects arrived in Germany via Ukraine after war broke out there in spring 2022, and formed a terrorist cell together with another member from the Netherlands.
They met regularly to discuss their intentions and scouted potential locations in Germany, the prosecutors’ statement said.
UK police arrest three over migrants’ deaths in Channel
- The men, two Sudanese nationals aged 22 and 19, and a South Sudan national aged 22, were detained
- Suspects were arrested on suspicion of facilitating illegal immigration and entering the UK illegally
LONDON: British police said on Wednesday they had arrested three men over the deaths of five migrants including a child who died attempting to cross the Channel from France the day before.
The deaths occurred when a small overcrowded boat carrying 112 people set out to cross one of the busiest shipping lanes in the world and panic took hold among the passengers not far from the shore.
Rescuers picked up about 50 people, with four taken to hospital, but others stayed on the boat, determined to get to Britain.
Three men, two Sudanese nationals aged 22 and 19, and a South Sudan national aged 22, were detained on Tuesday night on suspicion of facilitating illegal immigration and entering the UK illegally, the National Crime Agency (NCA) said.
“This tragic incident once again demonstrates the threat to life posed by these crossings and bring into focus why it is so important to target the criminal gangs involved in organizing them,” said NCA Deputy Director of investigations Craig Turner.
“We will do all we can with partners in the UK and France to secure evidence, identify those responsible for this event, and bring them to justice.”
French police are also continuing to investigate the circumstances surrounding the incident, alongside their British counterparts, the NCA said.
It added 55 people who were believed to have been on board the boat which arrived in Britain had also been identified.
More than 6,000 people have arrived in Britain this year via small, overloaded boats — usually flimsy inflatable dinghies — that risk being lashed by the waves as they try to reach British shores.
The deadly crossing on Tuesday took place just hours after the British parliament passed a bill paving the way for asylum seekers who arrive in Britain without permission to be deported to Rwanda, a policy which Prime Minister Rishi Sunak argues will deter people from making the dangerous cross-Channel journey.
New agreement to safeguard rights of Bangladeshi workers in Qatar
- 350,000 Bangladeshis are employed in Qatar, mostly in construction sector
- MoU signed during Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani’s visit to Dhaka this week
Dhaka: A new agreement between Qatar and Bangladesh includes commitments to establish protections for migrant workers, a top official said on Wednesday, as the Gulf state has been under harsh criticism over failing to safeguard the rights of laborers who constructed its 2022 FIFA World Cup infrastructure.
Migrant workers from South Asia, especially Bangladesh and Nepal, were indispensable to Qatar as it prepared to host the world’s biggest football event, and have been an important part of its economy. Some 350,000 Bangladeshis are employed by Qatar’s government, semi-government and private sector.
The jobs have enabled them to send remittances back home to their families, but many have reported contract violations and illnesses linked to unsafe working conditions. The problems entered the spotlight between 2010, when FIFA granted Qatar the World Cup, and 2022, when the event took place.
During the decade, seven new stadiums, an airport expansion, a new metro and hotels were constructed by 30,000 foreign laborers, according to the Qatari government. Rights groups and investigative journalists have estimated that more than 6,000 of them died in work-related deaths.
A new memorandum on Bangladeshi migrant workers — 80 percent of whom are employed in Qatar’s construction industry — was signed this week as Qatar’s emir, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani, visited Dhaka.
“A joint working group will be formed for solving labor rights issues,” Khairul Alam, additional secretary at Bangladesh’s Ministry of Expatriates Welfare and Overseas Employment, told Arab News.
“Our Ministry of Expatriates Welfare and Overseas Employment will lead the joint working group from the Bangladeshi side.”
The agreement commits the Qatari and Bangladeshi sides to discuss “ways to develop legislation relevant to areas of labor” and includes plans for a review to ensure that worker rights are in place.
“Labor rights protection, safety and healthy environment issues have also been emphasized in the MoU, and mentioned several times,” Alam said.
“The agreement also said that in case of any issues regarding migrants both countries will sit together and solve the issues amicably.”
The signing of the agreement was welcomed by the Migration Program and Youth Initiatives of BRAC — Bangladesh’s largest development organization, which estimated that more than 1,300 workers from the country died in Qatar during the World Cup construction spree, with many deaths attributed to heart attacks.
“Most of our migrant workers prefer the Middle Eastern countries, and after Saudi Arabia, UAE and Oman, Qatar is the preferred destination for the Bangladeshi migrants. In this context, such a type of MoU on labor employment is helpful for the protection of migrant workers’ rights,” said Shariful Hasan, the program’s associate director.
Hasan told Arab News it was an “expression of interest from both sides to ensure the welfare of the migrants,” who were playing a significant role in Qatar’s development.
“If the migrant-receiving country like Qatar focuses on the welfare and protection of the migrants, it will create a win-win situation for both countries. I think the signing of this MoU is a big development toward this.”
Columbia University cites progress with Gaza war protesters following encampment arrests
- Student protesters “have committed to dismantling and removing a significant number of tents,” the university said
- A smaller encampment remained on campus Wednesday morning
NEW YORK: Columbia University said early Wednesday that it was making “important progress” with pro-Palestinian student protesters who set up a tent encampment and that it was extending a deadline to clear out, yet standoffs remained tense on the Ivy League campus in upper Manhattan.
Student protesters “have committed to dismantling and removing a significant number of tents,” the university said in a statement. A smaller encampment remained on campus Wednesday morning.
Across the country, protesters at California State Polytechnic University, Humboldt, some 300 miles (480 kilometers) north of San Francisco, started using furniture, tents, chains and zip ties to block the building’s entrances Monday evening.
Both campuses are part of intensifying demonstrations over Israel’s war with Hamas by university students demanding that schools cut financial ties to Israel and divest from companies that are enabling its monthslong conflict. Dozens have been arrested on charges of trespassing or disorderly conduct.
Columbia President Minouche Shafik in a statement Tuesday set a midnight deadline to reach an agreement with students to clear the encampment, or “we will have to consider alternative options.”
By around 3 a.m., the university said that there was “constructive dialogue” and that it will continue conversations for 48 hours.
The statement said student protesters “will ensure that those not affiliated with Columbia will leave. Only Columbia University students will be participating in the protest.”
Student protesters also will comply with city fire department requirements and “have taken steps to make the encampment welcome to all and have prohibited discriminatory or harassing language,” the statement said.
The university’s statement was released hours before US House Speaker Mike Johnson’s trip to Columbia to visit with Jewish students and address antisemitism on college campuses.
Earlier Tuesday night, police arrested more than 200 protesters blocking traffic during a non-college demonstration demanding a permanent ceasefire in Gaza at Grand Army Plaza in Brooklyn, near the home of Sen. Chuck Schumer. The protest was organized by Jewish Voice for Peace on the second night of Passover, and protesters lay down a large circular banner depicting the food on a Seder plate.
At Cal Poly Humboldt, protesters chanted, “We are not afraid of you!” before officers in riot gear pushed into them at the building’s entrance, video shows. Student Peyton McKinzie said she was walking on campus Monday when she saw police grabbing one woman by the hair, and another student having their head bandaged for an injury.
“I think a lot of students are in shock about it,” she said.
Three students have been arrested, according to a statement from the school, which down the campus until Wednesday. Students had occupied a second campus building Tuesday.
Another encampment was set up Tuesday at the University of Rochester in upstate New York. Omar Darwesh, a Palestinian senior, said he has lost relatives to the war.
“We’re not calling for the destruction of Israel, we’re never talking about threatening Jews — the focus is on us and what we need, and that’s being treated like a human. We have to find a way to coexist,” he told TV station WHEC.
University of Rochester officials said in a statement that the protesters must follow ground rules, including presenting university identification if asked.
The upwelling of demonstrations has left universities struggling to balance campus safety with free speech rights. Many long tolerated the protests, which largely demanded that schools condemn Israel’s assault on Gaza and divest from companies that sell weapons to Israel.
Now, universities are doling out more heavy-handed discipline, citing safety concerns as some Jewish students say criticism of Israel has veered into antisemitism.
Protests had been bubbling for months but kicked into a higher gear after more than 100 pro-Palestinian demonstrators who had camped out at Columbia were arrested Thursday.
By late Monday at New York University, police said 133 protesters were taken into custody and all had been released with summonses to appear in court on disorderly conduct charges.
In Connecticut, police arrested 60 protesters, including 47 students, at Yale after they refused to leave an encampment on a plaza at the center of campus.
Yale President Peter Salovey said protesters had declined an offer to end the demonstration and meet with trustees. After several warnings, school officials determined “the situation was no longer safe,” so police cleared the encampment and made arrests.
A demonstration Tuesday at the University of Michigan grew to nearly 40 tents, and nine war protesters at the University of Minnesota were arrested after police took down an encampment in front of the library. Hundreds rallied in the afternoon to demand their release.
Harvard University in Massachusetts has tried to stay a step ahead of protests by locking most gates into its famous Harvard Yard and limiting access to those with school identification. The school has also posted signs that warn against setting up tents or tables on campus without permission.
Literature doctoral student Christian Deleon said he understood why the Harvard administration may be trying to avoid protests but said there still has to be a place for students to express what they think.
“We should all be able to use these kinds of spaces to protest, to make our voices heard,” he said.
Ben Wizner, a lawyer with the American Civil Liberties Union, said college leaders face extremely tough decisions because they have a responsibility to ensure people can express their views, even when others find them offensive, while protecting students from threats and intimidation.
The New York Civil Liberties Union cautioned universities against being too quick to call in law enforcement in a statement Tuesday.
“Officials should not conflate criticism of Israel with antisemitism or use hate incidents as a pretext to silence political views they oppose,” said Donna Lieberman, the group’s executive director.
