At Least 70 Dead as Bangladesh Protests Grow; Curfew Is Reinstated

THE NEW YORK TIMES: Expanded student protests this weekend, after more than 200 people were killed in a government crackdown in July, have plunged the country into a particularly dangerous phase.

A garment store burning on Sunday during protests in Dhaka, Bangladesh. | Abu Sufian Jewel/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images
At least 70 people were killed in clashes between security forces and protesters on Sunday in Bangladesh, as the country’s leaders imposed a new curfew and internet restrictions to try to quell a growing antigovernment movement.

The revival of student protests after a deadly government crackdown late last month, as well as a call by the governing party for its own supporters to take to the streets, has plunged the country of over 170 million into a particularly dangerous phase.

The exact number of deaths in the violence on Sunday was unclear, but it appeared to be the deadliest day since the protests began in July. A diplomatic official in Dhaka, the capital, said the toll across Bangladesh was at least 72, while tallies by local news media and the protest coordinators put the count at anywhere from 70 to 93. At least 13 of the dead were police officers, the country’s Police Headquarters said in a statement.

Sunday’s toll added to the more than 200 people killed in the crackdown on protesters last month by security forces under Bangladesh’s increasingly authoritarian leader, Sheikh Hasina. In a sign of the risk of further violence, the protest coordinators said they would march toward Ms. Hasina’s official residence on Monday. » | Saif Hasnat and Mujib Mashal | Saif Hasnat reported from Dhaka, Bangladesh, and Mujib Mashal from New Delhi. | Sunday, August 4, 2024

Libyen: Das Comeback des Saif Al Islam Gaddafi | Doku HD | ARTE

Sep 12, 2023 | Mit diesem Szenario hätten nur die wenigsten gerechnet: Wieder ein Gaddafi, der um die Macht kämpft. Saif al-Islam al-Gaddafi, der zweite Sohn des 2011 getöteten libyschen Diktators Muammar al-Gaddafi, kandidiert bei den Präsidentschaftswahlen seines Landes. Aussagen von Verwandten und politischen Akteuren zeichnen das Porträt eines unberechenbaren und wild entschlossenen Mannes.

Die Bewerbung für die Präsidentschaftswahlen von Saif al-Islam al-Gaddafi stellt für Libyen eine große Herausforderung dar. Der zweite Sohn des libyschen Diktators Muammar al-Gaddafi wurde in Libyen mehrfach verurteilt und wird vom Internationalen Strafgerichtshof wegen Verbrechen gegen die Menschlichkeit verfolgt. Saif al-Islam al-Gaddafi hat einen einzigartigen Werdegang: In seinem ersten Leben wächst er in einem Clan auf, der zahlreiche Verschwörungen wittert. Er führt in Europa ein Playboy-Dasein und stellt sich der Welt als Reformer dar.

Im zweiten Leben, das mit der libyschen Revolution 2011 beginnt, steht er für die Unterdrückung, die vom Regime seines Vaters ausgeht. Er wird von Anti-Gaddafi-Milizen gefangen genommen. Ihm wird der Prozess gemacht, an dem er nur per Videoschalte teilnehmen darf. Sein Schicksal treibt das libysche Volk um, allerlei Gerüchte kursieren, sein Leben ist bedroht.

Es heißt, er sei ein verrückter, kranker Mystiker, der sich in die Wüste abgesetzt habe. Was bringt ihn dazu, sich trotz Morddrohungen um das Präsidentenamt zu bewerben? Was weiß er über die geheimen Machenschaften des Regimes seines Vaters? Welche Chancen hat er, an die Macht zu kommen?

Sein bewegtes Leben spiegelt das aktuelle Chaos in Libyen wider: Das Land ist gespalten, es gibt eine Regierung im Osten und eine im Westen, rivalisierende Milizen ringen um die Macht, ausländische Staaten nehmen Einfluss auf den Konflikt. Mit Aussagen von Verwandten und politischen Akteuren zeichnet ARTE ein Porträt von Saif al-Islam – eines unberechenbaren und wild entschlossen wirkenden Überlebenden, der sich seinen Weg zu bahnen sucht.

Dokumentation (Frankreich, 2023, 52 Min)
Verfügbar bis zum 18/12/2023


Ce film est également disponible en français. Pour le regarder, cliquez ici s'il vous plaît. – Mark

Jordan: Royal Wedding: Crown Prince Hussein Marries Rajwa Al Saif

Jun 1, 2023

Royal fever sweeps Jordan ahead of crown prince's wedding: Photos of bridal party of Crown Prince Hussein’s fiancee, Rajwa Al Saif, go viral as celebrations break from modest traditions »

EN FRANÇAIS :

Au cœur du mariage du prince Hussein de Jordanie et Rajwa Al Saif : récit d’une journée historique »

Le salafisme, voilà l'ennemi: un ancien responsable de la DGSE brise le silence

Alain Chouet cherche les causes de notre impuissance envers le salafisme en rassemblant les pièces d'un puzzle qui n'est pas seulement hexagonal mais mondial. Hubert Didona/saif images
LE FIGARO : EXTRAITS EXCLUSIFS - Quarante années d'aveuglement ont conduit la France aux limites de la rupture du pacte républicain. Alors que le débat a été longtemps pollué par le politiquement correct, Alain Chouet, ancien chef du service de renseignement de la DGSE, propose un livre clair et net comme une note stratégique adressée au futur président de la République, mais écrite pour le grand public.

Il y a une semaine, un documentaire de M6 révélait la vie quotidienne d'un quartier sous contrôle des salafistes. On y découvrait une réalité qui ne pouvait pas ne pas susciter une phobie sans nuances : « Pas de ça en France ! » La présentatrice de ce documentaire, la journaliste Ophélie Meunier, a été depuis placée sous protection policière après des menaces de mort, tout comme le juriste Amine Elbahi , originaire de la ville et qui dit avoir reçu des centaines de messages de haine sur les réseaux sociaux. C'est tout le propos d'Alain Chouet, déjà auteur de deux livres sur sa vie d'espion et sur La Menace islamiste (La Découverte), que de chercher les causes de notre impuissance en rassemblant les pièces d'un puzzle qui n'est pas seulement hexagonal mais mondial. Dans son viseur, on trouve les commanditaires. Riyad, et d'autres capitales d'un « pétrosunnisme » terriblement funeste aux équilibres planétaires. « Pour empêcher l'eau d'un fleuve de couler, il est plus efficace d'en boucher la source que d'en barrer l'estuaire », écrit Chouet. Qui, dans cette campagne présidentielle, osera proposer une stratégie pour en finir avec le salafisme ? » | Par Charles Jaigu | vendredi 4 février 2022

Réservé aux abonnés

Gaddafis Sohn Saif will zurück an die Macht

Ein letzter Auftritt in Tripolis. Saif al-Islam al-Gaddafi im August 2011, in den Tagen der Entscheidungsschlacht um die libysche Hauptstadt. AFP | Hier: Ein Screenshot

DIE PRESSE: Er residierte in einer Villa in Wien, war ein Freund Jörg Haiders und Kronprinz im libyschen Regime. Nach der Revolution 2011 endete Saif al-Islam in einem Kerker. Jetzt mischt er wieder im politischen Spiel mit.

Es war die entscheidende Schlacht, der Anfang vom Ende der langen Herrschaft des Gaddafi-Clans in Tripolis. Vor fast genau zehn Jahren, im August 2011, stießen Rebellen mit massiver Luftunterstützung der Nato in die libysche Hauptstadt vor. Zugleich starteten Untergrundgruppen in Tripolis einen Aufstand. Saif al-Islam al-Gaddafi hatte damals seinen letzten großen Auftritt in der Stadt. „Die Menschen in Libyen stehen hinter uns“, behauptete er, als er im Kampfanzug nahe des Hotels Rixos al-Nasr noch einmal zu seinen Anhängern sprach. Dann stieg der Sohn und auserkorene Nachfolger des Diktators Muammar al-Gaddafi in seinen Geländewagen und brauste in einem Konvoi davon. Die Kameras internationaler Reporter fingen die bizarre Szenerie für die Nachwelt ein. Wenige Tage später war ganz Tripolis in der Hand der Aufständischen. Und Machthaber Muammar al-Gaddafi wurde zwei Monate später von Rebellen gelyncht.

Jetzt plant Saif al-Islam al-Gaddafi sein Comeback. Nach einem Jahrzehnt, das von Flucht, Gefangenschaft und Leben im Untergrund geprägt war, will er zurück an die Macht. Und dabei geht er behutsam vor, Schritt für Schritt. Denn auf seinem Weg liegen gewaltige Hindernisse vor ihm. » | Von Wieland Schneider | Freitag, 30. Juli 2021

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Gaddafi's Son: Libya Like McDonald's for NATO - Fast War as Fast Food (July 2011)

With the war in Libya at the focal point of international relations, RT's gained access to Colonel Gaddafi's son in NATO-targeted Tripoli. Saif al-Islam thinks his country's wanted for its riches, but says the people won't let Libya fall under foreign control.

Saif al-Islam Gaddafi Sentenced to Death in Libya

Saif al-Islam Gaddafi in a courtroom in Zintan, Libya

THE TELEGRAPH: Son of former dictator Col Gaddafi and security chief Abdullah Senussi found guilty of war crimes

The British-educated son of Col Muammar Gaddafi has been sentenced to death by firing squad by a court in war-torn Libya.

Saif al-Islam Gaddafi, the debonair friend of Lord Mandelson and other European notables who returned to his father's side during the 2011 revolution, was found guilty of war crimes by a court in the capital Tripoli.

He had appeared at hearings by video-link, as he was captured - in late 2011 - by a militia from the town of Zintan, which is fighting Tripoli-based brigades in the country's civil war.

Also sentenced to death were Col Gaddafi's notorious security chief and brother-in-law, Abdullah Senussi, accused by some of masterminding the Lockerbie bombing, and his prime minister, Al-Baghdadi al-Mahmoudi. They appeared in person, having been extradited before security collapsed in Libya from neighbouring countries. » | Richard Spencer, Middle East Editor | Tuesday, July 28, 2015

Gaddafi Trial -- Like Father, Like Son?

Saif al-Islam Gaddafi, the son of Libya's deposed leader Muammar Gaddafi, is set to go on trial in Tripoli today. Libya's new authorities insist that it will be fair and not a 'Mickey Mouse' trial, all the while refusing to extradite Saif to face charges in the International Criminal Court (ICC). Can he really expect justice and a fate different from his father's in a country that is on the brink of anarchy? And does the international community have the political will to enforce justice in what is increasingly perceived to be its toothless paper tiger? John Jones, Saif al-Islam's lawyer in the ICC, joins Oksana to mull over these issues.

Settling Scores: Gaddafi's Son Faces Trial in Libya, Fair Hearing Doubtful

The son of the late Libyan dictator Colonel Gaddafi will stand trial today on charges of killings, allegedly committed during the country's 2011 civil war. The hearings are taking place in Tripoli as Libya has defied numerous requests from the International Criminal Court to hand Saif Al-Islam over to The Hague. The authorities insist they will ensure a fair trail but as RT's Paula Slier reports, many doubt that promise.

Saif al-Islam Gaddafi's Lawyer Calls for UK Intervention over Execution Fears

THE GUARDIAN: William Hague criticised by UK barrister for failing to back ICC ruling ordering Libya to hand over dictator's son to Hague court

The British lawyer representing Saif al-Islam Gaddafi has called on the UK to intervene on his client's behalf amid fears that the son of the former Libyan dictator will be sentenced to death in a trial expected later in August.

In a letter to the foreign secretary, John Jones QC urged the government to condemn Libya's refusal to hand over his client to the international criminal court to face charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity.

Tripoli has so far refused to comply with the ICC's order that Gaddafi be sent to The Hague, in the Netherlands, and said repeatedly it would hold its own trial.

Last week a court in Misrata handed down the death sentence to Libya's former education minister Ahmed Ibrahim, and Jones fears that Gaddafi, 41, may share the same fate. » | Chris Stephen in Tripoli | Thursday, August 08, 2013

'Gaddafi's Son May Face Execution after Show Trial in Libya' - Lawyer

Nearly two years after Muammar Gaddafi was overthrown and killed in Libya - his son, Saif al-Islam, is yet to stand trial for alleged war crimes committed during the 2011 uprising. He's set for a hearing in Libya in August - but International Criminal Court judges fear he won't receive a fair trial there. Libya is meanwhile defying an ICC ruling by refusing to hand him over to the Hague, insisting on trial at home.

Darul Uloom Labels Saif, Kareena Marriage As Anti-Islam

THE TIMES OF INDIA: Leading Islamic seminary Darul Uloom Deoband termed as "anti-Islam" the wedlock between film actors Kareena Kapoor and Saif Ali Khan, saying the bride did not convert to Islam before the marriage.

The Islamic institution located in Deoband, a town in Saharanpur district of Uttar Pradesh, said,"Kareena did not convert to Islam before her marriage with Saif. Islam does not approve of such marriages."

"According to the Muslim laws, since Kapoor has not converted to Islam, this marriage is anti-Islam," said Habibur Rahman, a senior cleric of the seminary.

Saif Ali Khan and Kareena Kapoor tied the knot on October 16. The couple got their marriage registered in Mumbai. » | PTI | Thursday, October 18, 2012

Gaddafi's Son Facing Gallows in Libya: Lawyer

ABC NEWS: Moamar Gaddafi's son Saif al-Islam will be hanged if he is tried in Libya, his Australian lawyer has told International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague.

While the ICC wants Saif, the only son of the slain Libyan leader in custody, to be tried in The Hague, Libya's post-revolutionary authorities insist he should stand trial in his home country.

Libya's lawyers told a three-judge bench the country had enough evidence to charge Saif with crimes against humanity, committed when Gaddafi and his loyalists tried to put down Libya's bloody revolution last year. » | AFP | Thursday, October 11, 2012

Zintan Holds Tight to 'Prize' Saif al-Islam
Fighters in the western mountain town of Zintan have refused to give up Saif al-Islam, the most prominent son of slain ruler Muammar Gaddafi, saying his secrets are too important to risk. On Sunday, Zintanis detained an International Criminal Court lawyer who was visiting Saif al-Islam for allegedly trying to deliver letters to him. They say the letters, which she hid in her clothing, posed a danger to Libya's national security. Zintan's leaders say their people sacrificed many lives for the revolution that ended Gaddafi's rule, and that Saif al-Islam has information that could implicate Libya's interim leaders and foreign countries in wrong doing. Al Jazeera's Omar al-Saleh reports from Zintan.

Saif Gaddafi 'Wants to Be Tried in Libya'

THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: Saif al-Islam Gaddafi, the imprisoned son of the former Libyan dictator, has aligned himself with the new government by declaring his opposition to extradition to face war crimes charges in The Hague.

International Criminal Court investigators who met with Saif Gaddafi at a mountaintop detention centre south of Tripoli earlier this month said that he had expressed a preference to be tried in his own country, even if he faced the death penalty.

The ICC also confirmed that Gaddafi had suffered torture and abuse after he was captured last November.

The comments appear to have been made under duress with a government official sitting in on the discussion. Even so, the stakes for Gaddafi could not be higher. Deportation for an ICC trial would remove threat of a death sentence even if he was convinced of all counts in the war crimes trials. » | Damien McElroy, Foreign Affairs Correspondent | Wednesday, April 11, 2012

Ghadhafi-Sohn Saif al-Islam in der Haft Gewalt ausgesetzt
NZZ ONLINE: Der Sohn des früheren libyschen Machthabers Ghadhafi, Saif al-Islam, ist in der Haft in Libyen körperlicher Gewalt ausgesetzt. Dies erklärte die Verteidigung am Internationalen Strafgerichtshof (ICC) am Donnerstag. » | sda/afp | Donnerstag, 05. April 2012

ICC Rejects Libya's Request Over Gaddafi Son Surrender
REUTERS.COM: The International Criminal Court (ICC) on Wednesday ordered Libya to immediately hand over for trial Saif al-Islam Gaddafi, the son of the late Libyan leader, but Libya's new authorities said they still wanted to try him themselves.

The court in The Hague ordered Tripoli to "comply with its obligations to enforce the warrant of arrest" and surrender him into the court's custody without delay, rejecting a Libyan request to delay the handover.

The ICC says it has jurisdiction in the case and that a U.N. Security Council Resolution obliges Libya to cooperate. It has warned that Tripoli's failure to hand Saif al-Islam over could result in it being reported to the Council.

Along with human rights organizations, it harbors concerns about the fairness of Libya's new justice system.

Since the elder Gaddafi was killed after being captured alive by rebel fighters, competing militias have yet to lay down their arms and Western human rights organizations have accused them of carrying out numerous extra-judicial executions and other abuses, raising serious questions about the rule of law. » | Ivana Sekularac and Marie-Louise Gumuchian | AMSTERDAM / TRIPOLI | Wednesday, April 04, 2012

Nicolas Sarkozy Angrily Rejects Claims He Received £42 million from Muammar Gaddafi
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: France's Nicolas Sarkozy has angrily denied claims he received money from deposed Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi to fund his first presidential run in 2007.

Website Mediapart said that the Libyan regime gave 50 million euros (£42 million) to Sarkozy's campaign, citing a document being used to investigate a 2002 bombing in the Pakistani city of Karachi, which killed 11 French citizens.

The report comes just six weeks before the first round of the presidential election on April 22.
"If he (Gaddafi) had financed it, then I haven't been very grateful," Sarkozy said when a journalist asked about the report on TF1 television.

In March 2011, as France and Britain spearheaded air strikes against Libya, Gaddafi's son Saif al-Islam told Euronews TV that Libya had financed Sarkozy's 2007 election campaign, which the president's office also denied at the time.

Sarkozy lashed out at the journalist who asked him about the report and al-Islam's claim, accusing her of sympathising with the younger Gaddafi, who is being held by a Libyan militia.

"I am sorry for you that you are the spokeswoman for Gaddafi's son," Sarkozy said, visibly angered by the question. » | Reuters | Tuesday, March 13, 2012

THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: France election 2012: support for François Hollande will crumble, Nicolas Sarkozy's oracle predicts – Fascinating prediction of Francois Hollande's electoral demise today by Patrick Buisson, Nicolas Sarkzoy's public opinion eminence grise. » | Henry Samuel | Tuesday, March 13, 2012

Libya's Saif Gadhafi Could Be Tried Within Weeks, Official Says

Read article here | Nic Robertson, CNN | Sunday, February 05, 2012

Saif Gaddafi Sets Libya's New Rulers a Test of Commitment to Human Rights

THE GUARDIAN: Tyrant's son has become an unlikely rallying point for human rights activists as he languishes in jail without a lawyer

Home for Saif al-Islam Gaddafi is currently a converted living room with a dirty beige carpet in a compound close to Zintan, a modest mountain town 100 miles south-east of Libya's capital, Tripoli. Uniformed guards are his only company and he is denied visitors, television, radio and the internet.

He shakes hands with his few visitors with his left hand, because the thumb and forefinger of his right have been severed. He insists this was the result of being targeted in a Nato air strike, but some Libyans think it was the work of a rebel sympathiser, as punishment for Saif's habit of wagging his finger at rebels on his television broadcasts. Fred Abrahams of Human Rights Watch, granted a rare interview with Saif, reported that he looked well and gets fed three times a day. What Saif does not get is access to a lawyer, or any sight of the charges that Libya's new rulers say he faces.

Which is why, less than three months after his father's death, Saif is fast becoming an unlikely rallying point for international human rights advocates. It is a twist of fate no one would have anticipated, but Libya's rulers face increasing criticism over their failure to fulfil promises to set up a proper justice system. Saif, always the most influential son of the late Muammar Gaddafi, has been languishing in his makeshift prison cell since being arrested by militias in November.

The failure of the authorities to tell him what he is charged with or give him access to a lawyer has prompted a torrent of criticism from rights groups. » | Chris Stephen | Saturday, January 07, 2012