ALGIERS: Algeria’s state prosecutor on Thursday ordered an investigation after a mob lynched a man they accused of sparking the country’s deadly wildfires.
The North African country has been in the grip of devastating fires since Monday that have cost at least 69 lives.
Video footage posted online on Wednesday showed a crowd beating to death 38-year-old Jamal Ben Ismail and setting him ablaze.
They alleged he had started the fires.
The grisly murder was staged in Larbaa Nath Irathen, in the Tizi Ouzou district, one of the worst hit by the fires.
Those responsible “will receive a severe punishment,” the prosecutor said, adding that “odious crimes should not remain unpunished.”
Amnesty International called on authorities to investigate Ben Ismail’s death, which the Algerian League for the Defence of Human Rights branded as “barbaric and atrocious.”
“Scenes of the lynching and torching of the suspected arsonist — a young artist who had come to help put out the fires — are shocking,” the Algerian group said.
Ben Ismail’s father, quoted by local media, called for “calm” as he urged the authorities to “shed light” on his son’s death.
Blazes raged across northern Algeria on Thursday as the country observed a national day of mourning for dozens of people killed in the latest wildfires to sweep the Mediterranean.
Soldiers and civilian volunteers have joined firefighters on multiple fronts in the effort to extinguish the blazes that have been fanned by windy and tinder-dry conditions.
In Tizi Ouzou district, the area with the highest casualty toll, an AFP journalist reported entire sectors of forest going up in smoke.
Villagers forced to evacuate in order to escape the flames began trickling back to their homes, overwhelmed by the scale of the damage.
“I have nothing left. My workshop, my car, my flat. Even the tiles were destroyed,” one of them said.
But he said he had “managed to save his family,” while adding that “neighbors died or lost their relatives.”
Flags were flying at half-mast after President Abdelmadjid Tebboune declared three days of national mourning starting from Thursday.
Algeria probes lynching of arson suspect after deadly fires
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Algeria probes lynching of arson suspect after deadly fires
- Video footage posted online on Wednesday showed a crowd beating to death 38-year-old Jamal Ben Ismail and setting him ablaze
Kuwaiti emir appoints new defense minister
- Sheikh Abdullah Ali Abdullah Al-Salem Al-Sabah took the oath as minister of defense
LONDON: Emir of Kuwait Sheikh Meshaal Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah appointed a new defense minister to succeed Sheikh Fahad Youssef Saud Al-Sabah.
During the swearing-in ceremony at Bayan Palace on Tuesday, Sheikh Abdullah Ali Abdullah Al-Salem Al-Sabah took the oath as minister of defense.
Sheikh Fahad has assumed the position of first deputy prime minister and minister of interior following an emiri decree, according to the Kuwait News Agency.
Crown Prince Sheikh Sabah Khaled Al-Hamad Al-Sabah and other senior Kuwaiti officials attended the ceremony.
Italy blames badly drafted ICC warrant for Libyan suspect’s release
- Justice Minister Carlo Nordio told parliament Wednesday that Najim had been arrested on a warrant “that I do not hesitate to define as characterised by inaccuracies “
- Najim was freed after an appeals court refused to validate his arrest
ROME: Italy’s government shifted blame Wednesday for its much-criticized release of a Libyan war crimes suspect to the International Criminal Court (ICC), which it said had presented a poorly written arrest warrant.
Osama Almasri Najim, the head of Libya’s judicial police, was arrested in the northern Italian city of Turin on January 19 on an ICC warrant, only to be released and flown home to Tripoli two days later on an Italian air force plane.
Opposition parties have denounced the decision to free a man wanted on charges including murder, rape and torture relating to his management of Tripoli’s Mitiga detention center.
Justice Minister Carlo Nordio told parliament Wednesday that Najim had been arrested on a warrant “that I do not hesitate to define as characterised by inaccuracies, omissions, discrepancies and contradictory conclusions.”
Najim was freed after an appeals court refused to validate his arrest.
The justice minister said the court had noted discrepancies concerning dates within the arrest warrant, with crimes attributed to Najim in places dated to February 2011 and others to February 2015.
“An irreconcilable contradiction emerges regarding an essential element of the criminal conduct of the arrested person, regarding the time of the crime committed,” said Nordio, citing “patent, gross and serious contradictions” within the warrant.
The ICC six days later sent a “corrected version” of the arrest warrant, Nordio said, including the dissenting opinion of a judge who had questioned a lack of jurisdiction by the court.
AFP asked for comment from the ICC, but did not immediately receive a response.
Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni revealed last week that she, Nordio and Interior Minister Matteo Piantedosi were under investigation over the case.
A complaint had been made to a Rome prosecutor, who passed it onto the special court that considers cases against ministers.
Elly Schlein, leader of the center-left opposition Democratic Party, said Wednesday that Italy’s “international credibility has been tarnished” by the case.
And she called again for Meloni to come to parliament herself to explain what she said was the government’s “deliberate choice... to free and escort home a Libyan torturer.”
“What kind of country do we want to be, colleagues? On the side of the tortured or on the side of the torturers?” Schlein asked in parliament.
Piantedosi spoke to MPs shortly after Nordio, where he repeated that once Najim had been released from custody, he was deemed too dangerous to remain in Italy.
He denied suggestions that Italy had bowed to pressure from Libya in repatriating Najim.
Some opposition politicians have alleged the suspect was sent home to avoid jeopardizing relations with Libya.
Italy has a controversial agreement dating from 2017 with the UN-backed Libyan government in Tripoli in which Rome provides training and funding to the Libyan coast guard for help deterring the departures of migrants, or returning those already at sea back to Libya.
“I deny in the most categorical manner that... the government received any act or communication that could even remotely be considered a form of undue pressure,” Piantedosi said.
Belgian police hunting two suspects after Brussels metro shooting
- Police initially launched a manhunt in the tunnels of the metro system
- Broadcaster VRT said the shooting was probably drug-related and said the shooters
BRUSSELS: Belgian police were hunting two suspects on Wednesday after a shooting near the Brussels South international railway station, the city’s prosecutor’s office said.
Nobody was injured in the shooting, which happened around 6.00 am (0500 GMT), at the Clemenceau metro station in central Brussels, prosecutors said, adding there were no indications of a terrorist motive in the incident.
Police initially launched a manhunt in the tunnels of the metro system, which was partially closed after two men carrying machine guns were seen fleeing into the Clemenceau station.
Broadcaster VRT said the shooting was probably drug-related and said the shooters had aimed at one person but had missed.
VRT showed on its website images of two people walking into Clemenceau metro station in central Brussels and opening fire with automatic weapons. The station along with several others around the station were shut for hours after the incident.
Another video showed a large group of heavily armed police assembling at the Clemenceau station, as a massive search for the suspects got underway.
The incident crippled traffic on the heavily used metro system in Brussels, which hosts many European Union institutions and NATO’s headquarters.
By 2 p.m. (1300 GMT) the whole city metro system had reopened, including the stations around the Gare du Midi international train station, the arrival point for Eurostar trains from Paris and London.
Closing Bell: Saudi main index closes in red at 12,414
RIYADH: Saudi Arabia’s Tadawul All Share Index dipped on Wednesday, losing 19.53 points, or 0.16 percent, to close at 12,414.40.
The total trading turnover of the benchmark index was SR7.01 billion ($1.87 billion), as 102 stocks advanced, while 122 retreated.
The MSCI Tadawul Index decreased by 4.85 points, or 0.31 percent, to close at 1,543.76.
The Kingdom’s parallel market, Nomu, rose 0.17 percent gaining 54.22 points to close at 31,250.59. This comes as 33 stocks advanced, while 47 retreated.
The best-performing stock was Ash-Sharqiyah Development Co. with its share price surging by 6.74 percent to SR22.82.
Other top performers included the Zamil Industrial Investment Co., which saw its share price rise by 4.61 percent to SR35.20, and Americana Restaurants International PLC - Foreign Co., which saw a 4.44 percent increase to SR2.59.
The worst performer of the day was Kingdom Holding Co., whose share price fell by 2.97 percent to SR10.46.
The Co. for Cooperative Insurance and SABIC Agri-Nutrients Co. also saw declines, with their shares dropping by 2.3 percent and 2.27 percent to SR153.20 and SR112, respectively.
On the announcements front, Arab National Bank announced its annual financial results for 2024 with net profits before zakat and income tax reaching SR5.7 billion up by 21.1 percent compared to the previous year.
In a statement on Tadawul, the company said the surge was driven by higher net special commission income, fee and commission income, trading gains, and dividend income. It was also supported by lower impairment charges on real estate and reduced allowance charges for expected credit losses and other provisions.
“However, this growth was partially offset by an increase in the costs related to salaries and employee related expenses, depreciation and amortization, other general and administrative expenses and premises related expenses, along with a decline in net gains on non-trading instruments, net other operating income and net exchange income,” the statement added.
ANB’s total comprehensive income amounted to SR4.6 billion in 2024, and total operations profit reached SR9.5 billion.
In today’s trading session, the shares of Arab National Bank traded 0.37 percent lower on the main market to close at SR21.44.
Ukraine brings back 150 POWs in latest swap with Russia, Zelensky says
- “Some of the boys were held captive for more than two years,” Zelensky said
KYIV: Ukraine has brought back 150 troops from Russian captivity, President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Wednesday, announcing the latest prisoner swap with Russia.
“All of them are from different sectors of the front... Some of the boys were held captive for more than two years,” he said on the Telegram messaging app.
