STOCKHOLM: Two former executives at a Swedish oil company went on trial in Stockholm on Tuesday accused of complicity in war crimes committed by Sudan’s regime between 1999 and 2003.
Swede Ian Lundin and Swiss national Alex Schneiter are accused of asking Sudan’s government to make its military responsible for security at the site of one of Lundin Oil’s exploration fields, which later led to aerial bombings, killing of civilians and burning of entire villages, according to the prosecution.
Lundin, 62, was chief executive of family firm Lundin Oil, now known as Orron Energy, from 1998-2002, and Schneiter, 61, was vice president at the time.
Heading into the courtroom, Lundin, dressed in a grey suit, told reporters he and Schneiter looked “forward to defending ourselves in a court of law.”
“The accusations against us are false, they are completely false. They are also very vague,” he continued.
The trial is set to be the biggest in Swedish history, following an over a decade-long probe, a more than 80,000-page investigation report and with closing arguments scheduled for February 2026.
The two, who were formally named as suspects in 2016, face the formal charge of “complicity in grave war crimes” committed during the rule of Omar Al-Bashir.
In their opening arguments, the prosecution claimed that after Lundin Oil struck oil in 1999 in the “Block 5A” field in what is now South Sudan, the Sudanese military, together with an allied militia, led offensive military operations to take control of the area and create “the necessary preconditions for Lundin Oil’s oil exploration.”
Public prosecutor Henrik Attorps said “the perpetrators used tactics and weapons that neither distinguished between civilians and fighters nor civilian property and military targets.”
According to the charge sheet, this included aerial bombardments from transport planes, shooting civilians from helicopter gunships, abducting and plundering civilians and burning villages and crops.
Prosecutors claim the accused were complicit because Lundin Oil had entered into agreements with Sudan’s government to make the military responsible for security, knowing it meant the military and allied militias would need to take control of areas by “military force.”
Prosecutor Karolina Wieslander told the court that Lundin and Schneiter had demanded that Sudan create “conditions” for oil operations in areas not controlled by the military or regime allied militias, knowing the military would need to perform “offensive” operations to do this.
If convicted, Lundin and Schneiter risk life sentences.
The prosecution has already requested that the two be banned from any business undertakings for 10 years.
It has also asked for the confiscation of 2.4 billion kronor ($218 million) from Orron Energy, equivalent to the profit the company made on the sale of its Sudan operations in 2003.
The defense has argued that the prosecution’s case does not hold up.
“Our opinion is that these two years that will now be spent in the district court will be a huge waste of time and resources,” Torgny Wetterberg, a lawyer for Ian Lundin, told AFP on the eve of the trial.
Wetterberg said the defense disagreed with the prosecution’s descriptions of events, and that it had built its case on circumstantial claims with no concrete evidence.
Lundin himself noted that Sudan had long suffered from internal conflict.
“We never had anything to do with this conflict, to the contrary we were a force for good,” Lundin told reporters Monday.
Sweden can prosecute crimes committed abroad in its court system, though the government had to give its approval to indict a foreign national for crimes committed abroad.
When the charges were brought, Schneiter argued that the principle of universal jurisdiction did not apply to him as he was neither a resident nor a citizen.
His objection was eventually dismissed by Sweden’s Supreme Court, ruling in November 2022 that “some form of connection to Sweden” was necessary for an indictment and that Schneiter’s connection “in other regards” was “sufficient.”
A small group of protesters showed up in front of the Stockolm courthouse ahead of the start of the trial.
“We are here today to show our support to the people in South Sudan who have suffered due to the consequences of oil companies drillings, the business they do there,” 58-year-old Olof Andersson told AFP.
Oil executives on trial in Sweden over Sudan war crimes role
https://arab.news/yam8h
Oil executives on trial in Sweden over Sudan war crimes role
- The trial is set to be the biggest in Swedish history
- The two face charge of “complicity in grave war crimes” committed during Omar Al-Bashir’s rule
Saudi Arabia showcases work safety initiatives at Osaka Expo 2025
- Technology, training, incident reporting programs on show from July 16-19 in Japan
RIYADH: Saudi Arabia is showcasing its advancements in occupational safety and health at Expo 2025 in Osaka, Japan, from July 16 to 19.
The Kingdom’s National Council for Occupational Safety and Health, under the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Development, and led by Secretary-General Majed Al-Fawiz, is participating in the Global Initiative for Safety, Health, and Well-being Conference.
The delegation at the event includes representatives from the Ministry of Energy and the private sector.
This participation is a part of the Kingdom’s broader efforts to highlight its advancements in occupational safety, health, and employee well-being under Vision 2030.
Saudi Arabia has an exhibition highlighting key programs, including cutting-edge technologies to improve work environments, training initiatives and incident reporting.
The council emphasized the Kingdom’s commitment to global collaboration, knowledge exchange, and leadership in building safe, healthy, and sustainable workplaces.
Ethiopia arrests dozens of suspected Daesh militants, Fana broadcaster reports
- The 82 suspects were part of Daesh’s Somalia affiliate
- The Daesh faction in Somalia has become an increasingly important part of its parent organization’s worldwide network
ADDIS ABABA: Ethiopia has arrested dozens of suspected Daesh militants, who it claimed have been trained and deployed to carry out operations across the country, the state-affiliated Fana broadcaster reported.
The 82 suspects were part of Daesh’s Somalia affiliate, which operates in the semi-autonomous Puntland region, according to a statement by the National Intelligence Security Services which was shared with Fana.
The Daesh faction in Somalia has become an increasingly important part of its parent organization’s worldwide network in recent years.
“NISS has been closely monitoring the group’s cross-border infiltration strategies and its efforts to establish sleeper cells in Ethiopia,” Fana reported late on Tuesday.
With an estimated 700 to 1,500 fighters, Daesh’s Somalia wing has grown in recent years thanks to an influx of foreign fighters and increasing revenues.
But it is still much smaller than Al-Qaeda-linked Al-Shabab militant group, which controls large parts of southern and central Somalia.
The US military has carried out periodic air strikes against the group for years and recently intensified the strikes since President Donald Trump took office.
Puntland government forces have captured large portions of territory from IS since announcing a major offensive against them in December.
One dead after Ukrainian drone attack on Russia, governor says
MOSCOW: One person has died in Russia's Voronezh region after being wounded in a Ukrainian drone attack, Voronezh Governor Alexander Gusev said on Wednesday on his Telegram channel.
Migration group head urges EU to bolster deportations
- The EU migration pact, adopted last year and set to come into force in June 2026, hardens procedures for asylum-seekers at its borders
VIENNA: The head of an influential EU-funded migration advisory body has urged the bloc to bolster expulsions of rejected asylum-seekers under its new migration pact and defended his group over human rights concerns.
The director general of the International Center for Migration Policy denied responsibility for what he called “individual cases” of human rights abuses by authorities in countries where his organization works.
Michael Spindelegger, a former vice chancellor from the conservative Austrian People’s Party, spoke in an interview with AFP as Brussels comes under pressure to keep out or deport migrants, with hard-right anti-immigration parties performing strongly across Europe.
The EU migration pact, adopted last year and set to come into force in June 2026, hardens procedures for asylum-seekers at its borders.
“It’s very important that a well-functioning return policy is established, also in the spirit of the pact,” Spindelegger told AFP.
“If someone comes, isn’t granted asylum, and then stays anyway, and nothing actually happens, that’s a very bad sign for the state of law,” said Spindelegger.
He added it was important to make sure those deported are re-integrated in their home countries so that they don’t leave again.
Currently fewer than 20 percent of people ordered to leave the bloc are returned to their country of origin, according to EU data.
In EU migration reforms, “the train is moving, that’s clear, but there are, of course, still various stations that need to be considered,” Spindelegger said.
“However, in my view, much has already been accomplished at the foundational level.”
The Vienna-based ICMPD advises the European Union authorities and others on migration policy and runs projects in Africa, Asia and Europe.
Human rights groups have repeatedly criticized it over overseas projects aimed at reducing the number of migrant arrivals in Europe.
It has worked with the Tunisian coast guards and Libyan authorities, which have been accused of mistreating migrants.
“I deeply regret whenever negative individual cases (of human rights abuse) persist. We cannot take responsibility for that,” Spindelegger said.
He insisted that training courses run by the ICMPD for border guards in migrant transit countries included training on human rights.
Lukas Gahleitner-Gertz, spokesman of rights group Asylkoordination Austria, dismissed that claim as “window dressing.”
“Cooperation is being advanced with regimes that have a highly doubtful human rights record,” Gahleitner-Gertz told AFP.
Spindelegger said an ICMPD-backed border guard training center built in Tunisia had been a “big success,” helping prepare hundreds of people for the job so far.
A similar training project has been launched in Jordan, while the ICMPD is looking to expand the scheme to Algeria.
Rights groups have also voiced concern at the European Commission’s plans, unveiled in May, to make it easier to send asylum seekers to certain third countries for their applications to be processed.
The proposal is seen as a step toward the creation of sites outside the bloc that would act as hubs for returning migrants.
It needs approval from the European Parliament and member states to become law.
The ICMPD counts 21 mostly EU countries as its members and has a staff of more than 500 people.
Founded by Austria and Switzerland in 1993, it works in more than 90 countries.
Among its members are EU countries such as Germany and Greece and non-EU members, including Turkiye. France, Italy and Spain are not members.
Since Spindelegger, 65, took over the center in 2016, the number of employees has grown four times bigger.
Its budget has increased by five times to more than 100 million euros ($120 million), he said.
Some 70 percent of the budget comes from the European Commission.
Spindelegger will retire at the end of the year. He is due to be replaced by another Austrian conservative politician, Susanne Raab.
State prosecution in firebombing attack on demonstration for Israeli hostages moves ahead
- Federal authorities say Soliman, an Egyptian national, had been living in the US illegally with his family at the time
DENVER: A judge ruled Tuesday that Colorado prosecutors can move ahead with their case against a man accused of killing one person and injuring a dozen more in a firebomb attack on demonstrators showing support for Israeli hostages in Gaza.
A police detective had been set to testify at a hearing explaining the evidence gathered against Mohamed Sabry Soliman in the June 1 attack on the weekly event in Boulder. But Soliman’s lawyer, Kathryn Herold, told Judge Nancy W. Salomone that he gave up his right to hear the evidence.
Soliman, wearing an orange and white striped jail uniform, told Salomone that he understood he was waiving his right to a hearing following a discussion with his lawyers Monday.
Despite that, prosecutors and victims who sat across the courtroom from Soliman or watched the hearing online were caught off guard by the decision.
Salomone said the case would now move ahead to an arraignment and scheduled a Sept. 9 hearing for Soliman to enter a plea to murder, attempted murder and other charges over the defense’s objection.
Herold said Soliman would not be ready to enter a plea then because of the large amount of evidence in the case and the murder charges recently added against him following the death of Karen Diamond, an 82-year-old woman injured in the attack. Herold said she expected to ask for the arraignment hearing to be delayed and suggested that a plea deal was possible.
20th Judicial District Attorney Michael Dougherty objected to a delay, saying any discussions could happen before and after an arraignment. He declined to comment on the possibility of a deal after the hearing.
Investigators say Soliman told them he intended to kill the roughly 20 participants at the weekly event on Boulder’s Pearl Street pedestrian mall. But he threw just two of more than two dozen Molotov cocktails he had with him while yelling, “Free Palestine!” Police said he told them he got scared because he had never hurt anyone before.
Federal authorities say Soliman, an Egyptian national, had been living in the US illegally with his family at the time.
Soliman has pleaded not guilty to federal hate crime charges and is scheduled to go on trial in federal court in Denver in September. However, his lawyers told US District Judge John L. Kane last week that they expect to ask for a delay.
Additional charges related to Diamond’s death could also slow down the federal proceedings. Assistant US Attorney Laura Cramer-Babycz told Kane that prosecutors have not decided yet whether to file additional charges against Soliman.
Federal prosecutors allege the victims were targeted because of their perceived or actual connection to Israel. But Soliman’s federal defense lawyers say he should not have been charged with hate crimes because the evidence shows he was motivated by opposition to Zionism, the political movement to establish and sustain a Jewish state in Israel.
An attack motivated by someone’s political views is not considered a hate crime under federal law.
State prosecutors have identified 29 victims in the attack. Thirteen of them were physically injured, and the others were nearby and are considered victims because they could have been hurt. A dog was also injured in the attack, so Soliman has also been charged with animal cruelty.
