Life in prison for Haiti ex-senator over president’s murder

A person holds a photo of late Haitian President Jovenel Moise during his memorial ceremony at the National Pantheon Museum in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, July 20, 2021. (AP)
Short Url
Updated 20 December 2023
Follow

Life in prison for Haiti ex-senator over president’s murder

  • The 53-year-old Moise was gunned down on July 7, 2021 at his private residence by a hired group of about 20 military-trained Colombians

MIAMI: A US court on Tuesday sentenced a former Haitian senator to life in prison for his role in the assassination of the Caribbean country’s president Jovenel Moise in 2021.
Clad in a brown prison uniform, handcuffed and with shackles around his ankles, Joseph Joel John, 52, pleaded for mercy before the verdict was announced in federal court in Miami.
John said he never intended to murder Moise but instead wanted him brought before Haitian courts for his alleged mismanagement of the country.
The plot spiraled out of control when other conspirators decided to assassinate the president John said, adding he believed that backing out at that point would have gotten him killed.
“Your honor, have mercy on me,” he implored the judge, speaking in French. “I’m sorry for this heinous crime that should not have happened.”
The former senator had admitted earlier to providing vehicles and other resources to support the plot, as well as meeting with several other conspirators in both Haiti and Florida, according to court documents.
John was the third person indicted over the July 2021 slaying of Moise at his residence near the Haitian capital Port-au-Prince. The United States has jurisdiction in the case because the plot was partly organized in Florida, home to a sizeable Haitian diaspora.
A businessman holding dual Haitian and Chilean citizenship, Rodolphe Jaar, and retired Colombian military officer German Rivera were sentenced earlier this year to life in prison for their role in Moise’s assassination.
The 53-year-old Moise was gunned down on July 7, 2021 at his private residence by a hired group of about 20 military-trained Colombians. His security detail did not intervene to protect him.
Haiti has spiraled into deeper chaos since Moise’s death. No election has been held and he has not been succeeded.
Gangs control around 80 percent of Port-au-Prince, and violent crimes such kidnappings for ransom, armed robbery and carjackings continue to escalate in the impoverished nation.
Faced with this security and humanitarian crisis, the UN Security Council gave its agreement in October to send a multinational mission led by Kenya to Haiti to help the national police force. The mission is expected to begin in early 2024.
 

 


Thai police detain 2 suspects after a bomb in a border province killed 3 and injured scores

Updated 2 sec ago
Follow

Thai police detain 2 suspects after a bomb in a border province killed 3 and injured scores

  • Local police said at least 48 people were injured and that police have not yet pressed charges against the suspects as the investigation is ongoing
  • Local police said there was a fight between rival groups of men before the explosion and that there was no wider security threat
BANGKOK: Thai police on Saturday said two suspects were in custody as authorities investigated a bombing in the north that killed at least three people and injured dozens of others.
An explosive device was thrown into a crowd during an outdoor performance at an annual festival in Umphang town in Tak province, which borders Myanmar, on Friday just before midnight, according to the Association of the Umphang Rescue Groups.
Local police said at least 48 people were injured and that police have not yet pressed charges against the suspects as the investigation is ongoing.
Thanathip Sawangsang, a spokesperson for the Defense Ministry, said that local police said there was a fight between rival groups of men before the explosion and that there was no wider security threat. He said the forensic evidence showed that the explosive device was a homemade bomb.
Tak province has a heavy military presence in its border areas, including in Umphang.
Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra expressed her condolences to the victims and their families, and ordered security personnel and relevant agencies in the area to investigate and help those who have been affected, said government spokesperson Jirayu Houngsap.

The Detroit area’s many Syrians are celebrating Assad’s overthrow and planning long-delayed visits

Updated 14 December 2024
Follow

The Detroit area’s many Syrians are celebrating Assad’s overthrow and planning long-delayed visits

  • Nizam Abazid says he’s excited to see the country of his birth for the first time since 1998 but that he can now return without fear.

DEARBORN: Nizam Abazid is gleefully planning his first trip in decades to Syria, where he grew up. Rama Alhoussaini was only 6 years old when her family moved to the US, but she’s excited about the prospect of introducing her three kids to relatives they’ve never met in person.
They are among thousands of Detroit-area Syrian Americans who are celebrating the unexpected overthrow of the Syrian government, which crushed dissent and imprisoned political enemies with impunity during the more than 50-year reign of ousted President Bashar Assad and his father before him.
“As of Saturday night, the Assad regime is no longer in power,” Alhoussaini, 31, said through tears Tuesday at one of the Detroit-area school and day care facilities her family operates. “And it’s such a surreal moment to even say that out loud, because I never thought that I would see this day.”
It may be some time before either visits Syria. Though happy to see Assad go, many Western countries are waiting for the dust to settle before committing to a Syria strategy, including whether it’s safe for the millions who fled the country’s civil war to return.
Ahmad Al-Sharaa, who led the insurgency that toppled Assad after an astonishing advance that took less than two weeks, has disavowed his group’s former ties to Al-Qaeda and cast himself as a champion of pluralism and tolerance. But the US still labels him a terrorist and warns against any travel to Syria, where the US hasn’t had an embassy since 2012, the year after the war started.
But for Syrians in the US who have been unable to visit, the overthrow of the Assad government has given them hope that they can safely return, either for good or to visit.
“The end of the regime is the hope for all the Syrian people,” Abazid said this week, days after Assad and his family fled to Russia.
Abazid said he could go to Syria whenever, since he holds dual US and Syrian citizenship, but that he’ll wait a few months for things there to settle down.
Although European leaders have said it’s not safe enough yet to allow war-displaced refugees to return to Syria, Abazid said he and his brother aren’t concerned.
“When Assad’s forces were in power, my fate would’ve been in jail or beheaded,” Abazid said. “But now, I will not be worried about that anymore.”
Many Syrians who immigrated to the US settled in the Detroit area. Michigan has the largest concentration of Arab Americans of any state and is home to the country’s largest Arab-majority city, Dearborn. It also has more than 310,000 residents who are of Middle Eastern or North African descent.
As rebel forces seized control of Syria, capping a lightning-quick advance that few thought possible even a month ago, Syrians in and around Detroit — like their counterparts all over the world — followed along in disbelief as reports poured in about one city after another slipping from Assad’s grip. When news broke that Assad’s government had fallen, celebrations erupted.
Abazid, who owns a cellphone business in Dearborn, was born in Daraa, about 60 miles (95 kilometers) south of the Syrian capital, Damascus. He moved to the US in 1984 at age 18, and although he’s gone back a few times, he hasn’t visited since 1998 because of what he described as “harassment” by Syrian intelligence. That trip had to be heavily coordinated with US authorities, as he said Syrian authorities took him into custody and detained him for more than six months during a 1990 visit.
“When I was kidnapped from the airport, my family didn’t even know ... what it was about,” he told The Associated Press on Tuesday. “I still don’t know the reason. I have no idea why I was kidnapped.”
Abazid, 59, said his parents have died since that 1998 trip, but his five sisters still live in Syria. Each of his four brothers left Syria during the 1970s and 1980s, including one who hasn’t been back since emigrating 53 years ago, shortly after Bashar Assad’s father, Hafez Assad, rose to power.
Alhoussaini, who lives in West Bloomfield Township, said she was born in Damascus and moved to the Detroit area as a young girl, “mainly because there was nothing left for us in Syria.”
She said under the Assad family’s rule, her grandfather’s land was taken. Authorities detained him for almost a month. Her father was also detained before the family left.
“There never needed to be a reason,” Alhoussaini said. “My dad was able to return one time, in 2010. And he has not been able to go back to his home country since, mainly because we spoke up against the Assad regime when the revolution started in 2011. And we attended many protests here. We were vocal on social media about it, did many interviews.”
But with Bashar Assad gone and Syria in the hands of the rebels, “We don’t have to be afraid anymore to visit our country,” she said.
Her father, 61, is considering making a trip to Syria to see his siblings and visit his parents’ graves. Alhoussaini said she and her husband, who is from the northern city of Aleppo, want to take their kids over to visit with family and friends.
Alhoussaini’s three sisters, ages 40, 34 and 29, were also born in Syria. But none of them have been back.
Now, there is hope and amazement that people in Syria can celebrate in the streets, she said.
Alhoussaini said she thinks people who were born and raised in the US won’t be able to fully relate, because Americans enjoy a freedom of expression that people in Syria have never had.
“You can say what you want. You can go out into the street and protest whoever you want,” she said. “You will not be detained for it. You will not be killed for it.”


Ukrainian drones hit fuel storage area in central Russia, attack other areas

Updated 14 December 2024
Follow

Ukrainian drones hit fuel storage area in central Russia, attack other areas

Ukrainian drones attacked an infrastructure facility storing fuel in central Russia’s Oryol region, sparking a fire and smashing windows in homes, regional governor Andrei Klychkov said early on Saturday.
Klychkov, writing on the Telegram messaging app, said a “mass attack” on an infrastructure site caused fuel to catch fire. Fragments from downed drones smashed windows in homes, he said.
Video posted on Ukrainian military blogs showed a fire blazing at what was described as a fuel storage facility. Reuters could not independently verify reports from either side.
Drone attacks were reported in other Russian regions.
The governor of Krasnodar region, Vladimir Kondratyev, said air defenses had destroyed Ukrainian drones in several areas of the region south and east of Ukraine. One drone smashed windows in village houses, but there were no injuries.
Air defenses destroyed seven drones over Bryansk region on Ukraine’s northern border, regional governor Alexander Bogomaz said.
And in Russia’s Belgorod region, often targeted by Ukraine’s military on the northeastern border, governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said Ukrainian forces attacked two villages, injuring one resident and triggering a fire in a house that was quickly extinguished.


South Korea’s Yoon faces second impeachment vote over martial law bid

Updated 14 December 2024
Follow

South Korea’s Yoon faces second impeachment vote over martial law bid

  • Growing number from president’s party support impeachment

SEOUL: A defiant South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol faces a second impeachment vote on Saturday over his short-lived attempt to impose martial law, a move that shocked the country, split his party and imperilled his presidency half way through his term.
His move to impose military rule on Dec. 3 was rescinded barely six hours later after parliament defied troops and police to vote against the decree, but it plunged the country into a constitutional crisis and triggered widespread calls for him to step down for breaking the law.
Opposition parties plan to hold an impeachment vote at 4 p.m. (0700 GMT) on Saturday, with large demonstrations planned ahead of the vote.
Yoon’s conservative People Power Party boycotted the first impeachment vote a week earlier, preventing a quorum.
Since then, PPP leader Han Dong-hoon has urged party members to vote for impeachment on Saturday, and at least seven PPP members have said they would vote to impeach.
The opposition parties control 192 of the 300 seats in the single-chamber parliament so they need at least eight PPP votes to reach the two-thirds threshold for impeachment.
Ahn Cheol-soo, a PPP lawmaker among those backing Yoon’s impeachment, said in a Facebook post on Saturday that he would vote for impeachment “for the sake of swift stabilization of people’s livelihood, economy and diplomacy.”
The PPP floor leader said on Friday, however, that the party’s stance is still to oppose impeachment.
PPP lawmakers are due to meet on Saturday morning to decide whether to change that position.
If impeached, Yoon would lose authority but remain in office until the Constitutional Court either removes or reinstates him. In the meantime, Prime Minister Han Duck-soo would serve as acting president.
If the court removes Yoon or he resigns, a presidential election must be held within 60 days.
Yoon is separately under criminal investigation for alleged insurrection over the martial law declaration and authorities have banned him from traveling overseas.
He has not signalled a willingness to resign and in a speech on Thursday vowed he would “fight to the end” and defended the martial law decree as necessary to overcome political deadlock and protect the country from domestic politicians who are undermining democracy.
Yoon, president of Asia’s fourth-largest economy, hopes political allies will rally to support him, but the fiery remarks appeared to find mixed reception among PPP lawmakers.
A Gallup Korea poll on Friday had two-thirds of supporters of Yoon’s party opposing the impeachment, though three-quarters of all respondents supported it.
Elected in 2022, Yoon was widely welcomed in Washington and other Western capitals for his rhetoric defending global democracy and freedom, but critics said that masked growing problems at home.
He clashed with opposition lawmakers that he has labelled as “anti-state forces” and press freedom organizations have criticized his heavy-handed approach to media coverage that he deems negative.
The crisis and ensuing uncertainty shook financial markets and threatened to undermine South Korea’s reputation as a stable, democratic success story.
South Korean shares rose for a fourth straight session on Friday on hopes that the political uncertainty would ease after this weekend’s parliamentary impeachment vote.


Scholz says ‘integrated’ Syrian refugees ‘welcome’ to stay in Germany

Updated 14 December 2024
Follow

Scholz says ‘integrated’ Syrian refugees ‘welcome’ to stay in Germany

BERLIN: German Chancellor Olaf Scholz on Friday said that well-integrated Syrian refugees are welcome to stay, as far-right and conservative politicians called for them to return to their home country after the overthrow of Bashar Assad.
“Those who work here, who are well integrated, remain welcome in Germany. That’s obvious,” the social-democrat leader said in a post on X, noting that “some declarations these past days have deeply destabilized our fellow citizens of Syrian origin.”
Around one million Syrians live in Germany, most of whom arrived in the country during the 2015 migration crisis sparked by the civil war that broke out in Syria in 2011.
Some have since obtained German nationality but the majority have not, making them more vulnerable to expulsion.
Germany, like other European countries including Austria and Sweden, on Monday announced they were suspending new asylum applications by Syrians — just a day after Assad’s government fell.
Later that day, Alice Weidel, the co-leader of the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party, said Germany’s borders “are closed, we will not accept any more.”
AfD gained a huge popularity boost over the fears created by the sudden influx of migrants.
The party is tipped to finish second in February’s elections, in which Weidel is aiming to claim the chancellorship.
The center-right opposition CDU party — currently tipped to top the polls — has also called for Syrian refugees to return home.
CDU MP Jens Spahn suggested that Berlin charter flights to Syria and offer 1,000 euros ($1,057) to “anyone who wants to return.”
A German study on Friday said that the country could face labor shortages if the Syrians returned home, particularly in the health care industry where, according to news magazine Der Spiegel, there are 5,758 Syrian doctors working in Germany.