https://arab.news/846zy
BRUSSELS: A Belgian court on Friday sentenced five men to sentences ranging from 20 years to life in prison on charges of terrorist murder in connection with 2016 suicide bombings that killed 32 people and wounded hundreds at Brussels airport and a busy subway station, the country’s deadliest peacetime attack.
A chief suspect, Salah Abdeslam, had previously been given a 20-year sentence for involvement in a shootout days before the March 22, 2016, attacks and received no further jail time. It happened after police discovered him and another suspect by accident when they inspected what they thought was an empty apartment. Four officers were hurt.
Abdeslam was serving a life sentence without parole in France over his part in attacks that hit Paris cafes, the Bataclan theater and France’s national stadium in 2015. Both the Paris and Brussels attacks were linked to the same Daesh network.
Taking the stand at a high security court in Brussels on Monday before the jury and magistrates retired to deliberate on sentences, Abdeslam implored them for leniency, insisting that he did not take part in the suicide bombings in Belgium – two at the city’s airport and one on a subway train during the morning rush hour — and was not aware of the plot.
“I have been demonized. You’ve condemned someone who doesn’t deserve it,” the 34-year-old Frenchman said, according to Belgian daily Le Soir. “I ask you to be fair with this last decision,” on sentencing.
In total, 10 defendants were involved in what has been the biggest trial in Belgium’s judicial history. Two brothers were acquitted of all charges. The other eight were convicted of participating in activities of a terrorist group; six of those eight also were convicted of terrorist murder.
Abdeslam was the only survivor among the Daesh extremists who struck Paris in November 2015. After months on the run, he was captured in Brussels on March 18, 2016. His arrest may have prompted other members of the Daesh cell to rush ahead with attack plans on the Belgian capital.
Also convicted of terrorist murder at the trial was Mohamed Abrini, a childhood friend of Abdeslam and a Brussels native who walked away from Zaventem Airport – Belgium’s main air hub – after his explosives failed to detonate. He was sentenced to life in prison.
Two others accused of playing a role in the suicide bombing plot – Osama Krayem and Bilal El Makhoukhi – were sentenced to life in prison, while a third, Ali El Haddad Asufi, received a 20-year term.
Oussama Atar, identified as a possible organizer of the deadly attacks on both Paris and Brussels, was convicted of terrorist murder in absentia. He is believed to have died in the Daesh group’s final months of fighting in Iraq and Syria, but was also sentenced to life in prison.
NEW YORK: Russia’s foreign minister lambasted the “lies” of the Black Sea Grain Initiative, and refuted suggestions that Iran is pursuing nuclear weapons, during a heated press conference at the UN on Saturday.
Addressing a briefing attended by Arab News, Sergey Lavrov stressed confidence in Iran’s claim that it has no intention to obtain “the bomb,” referencing the 2003 religious edict issued by its Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei forbidding production or use of nuclear weapons.
“If Iran came into possession of nuclear weapons, Saudi Arabia said it would also have to consider this,” Lavrov said at the 78th session of the UN General Assembly.
“This is something I view as a statement of fact: Nobody wants to see the emergence of new nuclear states; but since we believe that Iran won’t have the bomb, Iran’s neighbors won’t be tempted to take that path.”
Lavrov was speaking amid international calls for a resumption of the Black Sea Grain Initiative, with Gulf states reportedly looking to support mediation efforts.
Agreed last year, the deal allowed 33 million tons of grain to be exported from Ukrainian ports, helping to stabilize global food prices and avert shortages.
But Moscow withdrew in July after months of protest that the export of Russian fertilizer was not being honored.
“The Ukrainian part of the package was implemented rather effectively and swiftly, while the Russian part wasn’t implemented at all,” said Lavrov.
“At the same time, our naval officers were opening up for the safe passage of grain ships, but the corridors were used to launch UAVs (unmanned aerial vehicles) and carry out strikes on Russian ships.
“But the main reason why we left the agreement is everything promised to us turned out to be a lie.”
Earlier in the week, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres referenced questions that had arisen over Russia’s apparent interest, or lack thereof, in resurrecting the deal.
When this was put to Lavrov, he denied this was the case, reiterating that Moscow’s withdrawal was linked to the “lies” surrounding rights for Russian fertilizer exports, as he pointed to the continuing work between Russian representatives and UN officials to resolve the blockade.
“We were lied to on the basics of the deal, and the secretary-general himself was forced to mislead on that,” Lavrov said.
“Let us once again recall what President (Vladimir) Putin said, which is that as soon as everything that’s enshrined in the Russian part of the package is implemented, on that very day the Ukrainian part of that initiative will become operational.”
Saying “someone in London or Washington doesn’t want the war to end,” Lavrov poured scorn on the continued investment from Western states into Ukraine’s defense apparatus.
Segueing into saying “we all know the US is doing everything possible to prevent the establishment of a Palestinian state, but somehow this doesn’t seem to cause great concern,” he concluded by appealing to African states to consider Russia as a partner.
LONDON: Russia’s Foreign Minister said in a speech at the UN General Assembly on Saturday that Russian troops will “certainly” help in rebuilding trust between Armenia and Azerbaijan.
Sergei Lavrov said it was time the dispute between the two countries was settled, adding that Western countries were trying to imposes themselves as mediators, but were not needed.
“Yerevan and Baku actually did settle the situation,” he said. “Time has come for mutual trust-building. There are Russian troops who will certainly help this.”
Russia has peacekeeping missions in Nagorno-Karabakh, where Azerbaijan launched an offensive this week and where the ethnic Armenian leadership said the terms of their ceasefire with Azerbaijan were being implemented.
Lavrov also said Ukraine’s proposed peace plan in its war with Russia, as well as UN suggestions for reviving the Black Sea Grain Initiative, were “not realistic,” but did not elaborate further on the 19-month conflict.
“It is completely not feasible,” he said of the 10-point peace blueprint promoted by Ukrainian President Volodomyr Zelensky. “It is not possible to implement this. It’s not realistic and everybody understands this. But at the same time, they say this is the only basis for negotiations.”
Lavrov criticized the West throughout his speech, and accused it of “fueling conflicts,” “dividing humanity” and “preventing the formation of a genuine multipolar world.”
He called for the expansion of the UN Security Council, which he said was skewed toward preserving Western hegemony.
“(The rest of the planet) don’t want to live under anybody’s yoke anymore,” he said, adding that this was evident by the growth of groups such as BRICS, which recently invited Argentina, Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, Saudi Arabia and the UAE to join.
“Our future is being shaped by a struggle, a struggle between the global majority in favor of a fairer distribution of global benefits and civilized diversity, and between the few who wield neo-colonial methods of subjugation in order to maintain their domination which is slipping through their hands,” he said.
“The US and its subordinate Western collective are continuing to fuel conflicts which artificially divide humanity into hostile blocks and hamper the achievement of overall aims. They’re doing everything they can to prevent the formation of a genuine multipolar world order.
“They are trying to force the world to play according to their own self-centered rules,” he said.
BEIJING: China is willing to work with South Korea to promote a strategic partnership to develop with the times, President Xi Jinping told South Korean Prime Minister Han Duck-soo on Saturday, amid rising tensions surrounding Russia, the United States and North Korea.
Xi held talks with Han in the eastern Chinese city of Hangzhou before the opening ceremony of the Asian Games, China Central Television reported.
The commitment to cooperation came ahead of scheduled trilateral talks between China, Japan and South Korea in Seoul on Sept. 26, the first summit led by their senior officials in four years.
The commitment to cooperation came ahead of scheduled trilateral talks between China, Japan and South Korea in Seoul on Sept. 26, the first summit led by their senior officials in four years.
Xi told Han that he welcomes the summit at an opportune time and he will seriously consider the matter of visiting South Korea, Yonhap reported on Saturday. A Chinese statement did not mention Xi’s comment on the summit or a visit to Seoul.
China attaches great importance to the positive willingness of South Korea to commit to cooperation, Xi said, and asked South Korea to meet it half way to maintain the direction of friendly cooperation. The two countries can deepen mutually beneficial cooperations, he said.
Tensions between the two East Asian countries rose after North Korea’s Kim Jong Un’s weeklong visit to Russia earlier this month, which angered the United States, Japan and South Korea.
South Korea imposed sanctions on 10 individuals and two entities in relation to North Korea’s nuclear program and weapons trade with three countries, including Russia, the Foreign Ministry said on Thursday.
JAKARTA: Indonesian Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi appealed to the UN General Assembly on Saturday to uphold the principle of sovereignty, as she pledged continued support for Palestinian statehood.
Addressing the 78th session of the UN General Assembly in New York, Marsudi referred to its theme of “Rebuilding trust and reigniting global solidarity” by highlighting a deep trust deficit in the world today.
“The problem is that we do differently than what we say, we say differently about what we did. We don’t walk the talk,” she said.
“The fate of the world can’t be defined by the mighty few. A peaceful, stable and prosperous world is a collective right and responsibility of all countries — big and small, north and south, developed and developing.”
To achieve this goal, she urged all leaders to “adhere to the same rules of the game” and invoked the spirit of the 1955 Asian-African Conference held in the Indonesian city of Bandung, which was a defining moment in postcolonial history and led to the founding of the Non-Aligned Movement.
The “Bandung Spirit,” or the core principles adopted during the meeting, were political self-determination, mutual respect for sovereignty, non-aggression, non-interference in internal affairs, and equality.
Palestine is the only country participating in the 1955 Asian-African Conference that has not yet become independent.
“We must uphold respect for international law, particularly the principle of sovereignty and territorial integrity,” Marsudi said.
“For far too long, we’ve allowed our Palestinian brothers and sisters to suffer. Indonesia won’t back an inch in our support for Palestinian statehood.”
Indonesia, the world’s most populous Muslim-majority nation, has long been a staunch supporter of the Palestinian cause.
Indonesian people and authorities see Palestinian statehood as mandated by their own constitution, which calls for the abolition of colonialism.
In its preamble, the Indonesian constitution says that “independence is the inalienable right of every nation.”
The Southeast Asian nation has no diplomatic relations with Israel, and the Indonesian government has repeatedly called for an end to the occupation of Palestinian territories and for a two-state solution based on pre-1967 borders.
Jakarta has also repeatedly called on the UN Security Council to implement all its resolutions related to Palestine.
As world leaders this week made a political declaration to accelerate action to achieve the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals to end poverty and hunger, empower women and girls, and drive economic prosperity and well-being for all people while protecting the environment by 2030, Marsudi called for equal chances for all to do so.
“Every country has the same right to develop and grow, but the global architecture of today only benefits the selected few,” she said.
“Many developing countries may not meet the SDGs by 2030. They also struggle with foreign debt and development financing. All of this will contribute to eroding trust and solidarity.”
Marsudi also called for global solidarity with Afghans, especially women and girls, whose lives have been significantly restricted since the Taliban came to power in 2021 and barred them, among other things, from secondary and higher education.
“Indonesia will do its utmost to help the Afghan people and ensure the rights of women and girls are respected, including their right to education,” she said.
NEW DELHI: Relations between Saudi Arabia and India have reached an unprecedented level of engagement, a top Indian foreign affairs official told Arab News after a flurry of cooperation agreements signed during the Saudi crown prince’s recent visit.
Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman was on a state visit to India, after participating in the G20 Summit in New Delhi earlier this month.
This was his second official trip to New Delhi, following a visit in February 2019, during which Saudi-Indian ties began to see a new level of engagement. In October of that year, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi arrived in Riyadh, where the two countries agreed to establish a strategic partnership council to navigate bilateral ties.
The council’s first meeting was held on Sept. 11 and co-chaired by both leaders, who also witnessed the signing of a landmark agreement on energy, including renewable energy cooperation, as well as memoranda on partnerships in digitization and electronic manufacturing, investment, banking, anti-corruption efforts, and seawater desalination.
Dozens of other bilateral deals in entrepreneurship, chemicals, and advanced manufacturing were signed during the Saudi-India Investment Forum on the sidelines of the crown prince’s visit.
“We should give credit to both the crown prince and our Prime Minister Modi for bringing this relationship now to unprecedented levels,” Dr. Ausaf Sayeed, secretary in charge of the Gulf region at the Indian Ministry of External Affairs, told Arab News in a recent interview.
Sayeed, who has spent 10 years in Saudi Arabia, serving as New Delhi’s ambassador to Riyadh and earlier as its consul general in Jeddah, has observed over the years how it has been navigating its position as the “biggest player” in the whole region of West Asia, and a “geopolitical power.”
He saw significant potential for India to contribute to the Kingdom’s Vision 2030 transformation plan and its ongoing megaprojects such as the multibillion-dollar NEOM smart city.
“There are many ways in which in India can contribute,” he said. “There are many Indian companies that have the technology expertise and international recognition to play a part in the construction of the cities like NEOM and all the projects that are there.”
He estimated that at least 2,700 Indian enterprises have been registered with the Saudi Ministry of Investment and India’s investment in the Kingdom has reached $2.15 billion, with investors interested particularly in the pharma, green hydrogen, renewable energy, IT, and cybersecurity sectors.
“The PM has already discussed with the crown prince the possibility of a start-up bridge. India is one of the biggest ecosystems of startups in the world. At the same time, Saudi Arabia has developed their own very good ecosystem to support startups,” Sayeed said.
“Although we are strategic partners, so many new initiatives are coming. There are ample opportunities, where the potential is not fully utilized yet.”