MONTREAL: A Canadian man who was held captive by a faction of the Afghan Taliban for five years has been arrested on 15 charges including sexual assault, illegal confinement and issuing death threats, according to reports on Tuesday.
Joshua Boyle was freed last October along with his American wife Caitlan Coleman and their three children born in captivity.
The identity of the alleged victim was being withheld by a court, according to Boyle’s lawyer Eric Granger.
Granger added his client was “presumed innocent” and had never been in any form of legal trouble before.
“We look forward to receiving the evidence and defending him against these charges,” he said, adding Boyle would appear before a court in Ottawa on Wednesday.
According to news channel CTV, Boyle is facing eight counts of assault, two counts of sexual assault and two counts of unlawful confinement, as well as one each of misleading police to “divert suspicion from himself,” uttering a death threat, and administering a noxious substance, Trazodone.
In a statement to The Toronto Star and published on the newspaper’s website, Boyle’s wife would not comment on the specific charges “but I can say that ultimately it is the strain and trauma he was forced to endure for so many years and the effects that that had on his mental state that is most culpable for this.”
She said “with compassion and forgiveness that I... hope help and healing can be found for him.”
Coleman added that she and the children were healthy.
Boyle and Coleman, who have been married since 2011, were kidnapped by the Taliban during what they described as a backpacking trip through war-torn Afghanistan in 2012, and were later transferred to the custody of the Haqqani faction, known for its alleged ties to the Pakistani military.
They were freed on October 12, but refused to board a US military plane. Boyle, a Muslim convert and long-time advocate of freed Guantanamo inmate Omar Khadr, cited fears over his background.
Upon his arrival in Toronto two days later Boyle accused his captors of raping his wife and killing his baby daughter, a fourth child — allegations swiftly refuted by the Taliban’s spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid.
Mujahid admitted a baby had died but said it was a result of a natural miscarriage.
A month later Coleman also spoke of a sexual “assault” by two of her captors in an interview with ABC news.
Boyle has been an outspoken advocate for Omar Khadr, a Canadian captured at the age of 15 in 2002 in Afghanistan and held at Guantanamo Bay before being transferred to Canada and later released.
He married Khadr’s sister in 2009.
Pakistan’s military says the family was freed in a daring rescue operation.
But some US and Canadian officials have questioned that account, suggesting to news outlets it may have involved a “negotiated handover” with the Haqqani network which Islamabad is said to covertly back.
Former Taliban hostage Boyle arrested for 15 charges including assault
Former Taliban hostage Boyle arrested for 15 charges including assault
Germany’s Scholz announces Ukraine military aid in visit to Kyiv
- German Chancellor Olaf Scholz made an unexpected visit to Kyiv on Monday
- His second second since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine nearly three years ago
The visit, his second since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine nearly three years ago, signals Germany’s support at a time of uncertainty ahead of President-elect Donald Trump taking the reins at the White House and as Russian forces make territorial gains.
Scholz will hold talks with President Volodymyr Zelensky, who is set to push NATO to invite Ukraine to join the military alliance at a meeting in Brussels this week.
The German chancellor’s visit also comes as he faces a tough battle for re-election at a snap vote in February after his coalition collapsed in November.
His own record on supporting Ukraine has been under scrutiny both from those who wanted him to do more to help Kyiv and, on the other side, those voters who want Germany to pull back from sending weapons and aid to Ukraine.
“Germany will remain Ukraine’s strongest supporter in Europe,” Scholz wrote on X.
At the meeting with Zelensky, he said he would “announce further military equipment worth €650 million, which is to be delivered in December.”
Bangladesh court acquits ex-PM Khaleda Zia’s son in 2004 deadly grenade attack
- Tarique Rahman, others were found guilty in 2018 of targeting a rally held by supporters of PM Sheikh Hasina, who led opposition at the time
- The ruling comes as the country suffers political tension after Hasina fled to India in August following a mass uprising that killed hundreds
DHAKA: Bangladesh’s High Court on Sunday acquitted former Prime Minister Khaleda Zia’s son, Tarique Rahman, and overturned a verdict against him over a deadly 2004 grenade attack on a political rally.
The ruling comes at a critical time as the South Asian country suffers political tension after long-time Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina fled the country to India in August following a mass uprising that left hundreds dead. Rahman serves as the acting chairperson of Zia’s Bangladesh Nationalist Party while in self-exile in London, and he could become Bangladesh’s next leader if his party is voted into power.
Rahman and 48 others were found guilty in 2018 in the attack targeting a rally held by supporters of Sheikh Hasina, who led the opposition at the time, leaving two dozen people dead and wounding about 300 others. A court sentenced 19 of them to death while Rahman got life in prison, with Zia’s party accusing the ruling of being politically motivated.
A two-member judge panel scrapped Sunday the entire 2018 ruling for all 49 men, following an appeal lodged by the defendants. Shishir Monir, a defense lawyer, told reporters the court declared the trial and verdict “illegal”.
“As a result, all defendants have been acquitted,” he said.
Zia, who ruled the country as prime minister between 2001-2006, and Hasina are the country’s most powerful politicians and long-time rivals.
Nobel Peace laureate Muhammad Yunus has been chosen as the country’s interim leader since Hasina’s escape, but authorities have been struggling to enforce order amid mob justice, chaos and claims of systematic targeting of minority groups, particularly Hindus, which Yunus said are “exaggerated.”
Hasina’s Awami League party blasted the court ruling in a Facebook post on Sunday, saying it wasn’t “Yunus’ Kangaroo court” and that the people of Bangladesh would be the ones trying those responsible for the attacks.
Zia’s party welcomed Sunday’s ruling.
The attorney general’s office can appeal the ruling in the country’s Supreme Court.
The Yunus-led government has not declared any timeframe for the next election, but Rahman and his party want the new election sometime soon. Meanwhile, Jamaat-e-Islami party, which shared power with Zia’s party in 2001-2006 with important portfolios in the Cabinet, said it wants to allow the Yunus-led government to stay in power to bring in reforms in various sectors before a new election.
Hasina faces charges of crimes against humanity for deaths during the summer’s student-led uprising. The interim government has sought help from Interpol to arrest Hasina. It is not clear if India will respond to any request from Bangladesh for Hasina’s extradition under a mutual treaty.
Australian police arrest 13 people and seize a record 2.3 tonnes of cocaine from a fishing boat
- The drugs had a sale value of $494 million and equaled as many as 11.7 million street deals if they had reached the country of 28 million people
- The smugglers made two attempts to transport the drugs to Australia by sea from a mothership floating hundreds of kilometers offshore
WELLINGTON: Australian police seized a record 2.3 tonnes of cocaine and arrested 13 people in raids after the suspects’ boat broke down off the coast of Queensland, authorities said Monday.
The drugs had a sale value of 760 million Australian dollars ($494 million) and equaled as many as 11.7 million street deals if they had reached the country of 28 million people, federal police said in a statement.
Investigators told reporters in Brisbane that the drugs were transported from an unidentified South American country.
The arrests on Saturday and Sunday followed a monthlong investigation after a tipoff that the Comancheros motorcycle gang was planning a multi-ton smuggling operation, Australian Federal Police Commander Stephen Jay said.
The smugglers made two attempts to transport the drugs to Australia by sea from a mothership floating hundreds of kilometers (miles) offshore, Jay said. Their first boat broke down, and the second vessel foundered on Saturday, leaving the suspects stranded at sea for several hours until police raided the fishing boat and seized the drugs, he said.
The mothership was in international waters and was not apprehended, Jay said.
Authorities have seized more than one ton of cocaine before, Jay said, but the weekend’s haul was the biggest ever recorded in Australia.
Those charged are accused of conspiring to import the drug into Australia by sea and were due to appear in various courts on Monday. The maximum penalty under the charge is life in prison.
Some were arrested on the boat while others were waiting on shore to collect the cocaine, police said. Two were under age 18 and all were Australian citizens, they said.
“Australia is a very attractive market for organized criminal groups to send drugs such as cocaine,” Jay said.
Over 40 people hospitalized in Georgia during protests over the suspension of EU talks
- Georgia’s Interior Ministry said Sunday that 27 protesters, 16 police and one media worker were hospitalized
- Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze warned that ‘any violation of the law will be met with the full rigor of the law’
TBILISI: A third night of protests in the Georgian capital against the government’s decision to suspend negotiations to join the European Union left 44 people hospitalized, officials said Sunday.
Tens of thousands of demonstrators gathered outside the parliament Saturday night, throwing stones and setting off fireworks, while police deployed water cannons and tear gas. An effigy of the founder of the governing Georgian Dream party, Bidzina Ivanishvili — a shadowy billionaire who made his fortune in Russia — was burned in front of the legislature.
Georgia’s Interior Ministry said Sunday that 27 protesters, 16 police and one media worker were hospitalized.
Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze warned that “any violation of the law will be met with the full rigor of the law.”
“Neither will those politicians who hide in their offices and sacrifice members of their violent groups to severe punishment escape responsibility,” he said at a briefing Sunday.
He insisted it wasn’t true that Georgia’s European integration had been halted. “The only thing we have rejected is the shameful and offensive blackmail, which was, in fact, a significant obstacle to our country’s European integration.” The government’s announcement came hours after the European Parliament adopted a resolution criticizing last month’s general election in Georgia as neither free nor fair.
Kobakhidze also dismissed the US State Department’s statement Saturday that it was suspending its strategic partnership with Georgia. The statement condemned Georgia’s decision to halt its efforts toward EU accession.
“You can see that the outgoing administration is trying to leave the new administration with as difficult a legacy as possible. They are doing this regarding Ukraine, and now also concerning Georgia,” Kobakhidze said. “This will not have any fundamental significance. We will wait for the new administration and discuss everything with them.”
Kobakhidze also confirmed that Georgia’s ambassador to the US, David Zalkaliani, had become the latest of a number of diplomats to stand down since the protests started.
EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas and enlargement commissioner Marta Kos released a joint statement Sunday on the Georgian government’s decision to suspend negotiations.
“We note that this announcement marks a shift from the policies of all previous Georgian governments and the European aspirations of the vast majority of the Georgian people, as enshrined in the Constitution of Georgia,” the statement said.
It reiterated the EU’s “serious concerns about the continuous democratic backsliding of the country” and urged Georgian authorities to “respect the right to freedom of assembly and freedom of expression, and refrain from using force against peaceful protesters, politicians and media representatives.”
The ruling Georgian Dream party’s disputed victory in the Oct. 26 parliamentary election, which was widely seen as a referendum on Georgia’s aspirations to join the EU, has sparked major demonstrations and led to an opposition boycott of parliament.
The opposition has said that the vote was rigged with the help of Russia, Georgia’s former imperial master, with Moscow hoping to keep Tbilisi in its orbit.
Speaking to The Associated Press on Saturday, Georgia’s pro-Western President Salome Zourabichvili said that her country was becoming a “quasi-Russian” state and that Georgian Dream controlled the major institutions.
“We are not demanding a revolution. We are asking for new elections, but in conditions that will ensure that the will of the people will not be misrepresented or stolen again,” Zourabichvili said.
The EU granted Georgia candidate status in December 2023 on condition that it meet the bloc’s recommendations, but put its accession on hold and cut financial support earlier this year after the passage of a “foreign influence” law widely seen as a blow to democratic freedoms.
Russia’s air units destroy 15 Ukrainian drones overnight, Russian agencies report
Russia’s air defense systems destroyed 15 Ukrainian drones over several Russian regions overnight, RIA state news agency reported on Monday, citing Russia’s defense ministry.
