
Two charged with murder after death of Yemeni teenager in Sheffield hit-and-run
LONDON: Two men have been charged with murder after a 16-year-old boy died in an alleged hit-and-run in Sheffield last week, it was reported on Sunday.
Zulkernain Ahmed and Amaan Ahmed have also been charged with three counts of attempted murder following the death of Abdullah Yaser Abdullah Al-Yazidi, South Yorkshire Police said.
Al-Yazidi's family said the teenager had come to the UK from Yemen three months ago, hoping for a better future. He had been learning English ahead of starting college in September and was described as someone who would 'light up their faces with a big smile.'
He was walking along the road in Darnall on Wednesday when he was struck by a grey Audi.
Police believe the car first hit the rider of an electric bike before continuing on and hitting Al-Yazidi. He later died in hospital from his injuries.
An 18-year-old man riding the e-bike was seriously injured but is expected to recover.
The two suspects are due to appear at Sheffield Magistrates' Court on Monday.
A 46-year-old man and a 45-year-old woman, arrested on suspicion of assisting an offender, remain on bail.
Saleh Alsirkal, a relative who runs a shop in Darnall, said Al-Yazidi had dropped in shortly before the collision, after attending a hospital appointment.
'He was a kind boy,' he told the BBC. 'He just wanted to look after his family. His dad brought him over to change his life, to get a better future for his son, but this has happened and destroyed everything.'
Local councillor Qais Al-Ahdal said the teen was widely liked and respected in the area.
'We've really lost someone who is good in the community,' he said. 'Praised by everyone unanimously, he was a really good kid. May God have mercy on his soul,' adding that the Darnall community was united in grief.

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles


Arab News
3 hours ago
- Arab News
Two charged with murder after death of Yemeni teenager in Sheffield hit-and-run
LONDON: Two men have been charged with murder after a 16-year-old boy died in an alleged hit-and-run in Sheffield last week, it was reported on Sunday. Zulkernain Ahmed and Amaan Ahmed have also been charged with three counts of attempted murder following the death of Abdullah Yaser Abdullah Al-Yazidi, South Yorkshire Police said. Al-Yazidi's family said the teenager had come to the UK from Yemen three months ago, hoping for a better future. He had been learning English ahead of starting college in September and was described as someone who would 'light up their faces with a big smile.' He was walking along the road in Darnall on Wednesday when he was struck by a grey Audi. Police believe the car first hit the rider of an electric bike before continuing on and hitting Al-Yazidi. He later died in hospital from his injuries. An 18-year-old man riding the e-bike was seriously injured but is expected to recover. The two suspects are due to appear at Sheffield Magistrates' Court on Monday. A 46-year-old man and a 45-year-old woman, arrested on suspicion of assisting an offender, remain on bail. Saleh Alsirkal, a relative who runs a shop in Darnall, said Al-Yazidi had dropped in shortly before the collision, after attending a hospital appointment. 'He was a kind boy,' he told the BBC. 'He just wanted to look after his family. His dad brought him over to change his life, to get a better future for his son, but this has happened and destroyed everything.' Local councillor Qais Al-Ahdal said the teen was widely liked and respected in the area. 'We've really lost someone who is good in the community,' he said. 'Praised by everyone unanimously, he was a really good kid. May God have mercy on his soul,' adding that the Darnall community was united in grief.


Arab News
5 hours ago
- Arab News
Outrage as pro-Palestine protester to spend 21 months in prison before trial
LONDON: The mother of a British man charged over a protest against an Israeli weapons firm has voiced outrage over the expected 21-month imprisonment of her son before his trial, The Guardian reported. William Plastow, a 34-year-old resident of Manchester, is accused of taking part in a Palestine Action demonstration against a factory in Bristol owned by Elbit Systems. The protest, which took place in August last year, involved 17 others. The group has been dubbed the 'Filton 18.' Plastow, a script editor, has denied charges of criminal damage, violent disorder and aggravated burglary relating to the demonstration. Six of the 18, including Plastow, who are all being held in prison, have been given a trial date of April next year. Defendants should not spend more than six months in jail while awaiting trial, according to custody time limit guidelines. By the time of Plastow's expected trial, he will have served the equivalent of a sentence of more than five years, based on new sentencing rules that allow the release of convicted criminals who have served one-third of their sentences. Jane Plastow, his mother, said the case might set a record for the longest time anyone has been held in prison awaiting trial on protest charges in Britain. The 66-year-old, an academic, said: 'It's outrageous, it's terrible. Will is a kind of glass-half-empty guy, so he tends toward (believing in) the worst possible outcome. 'Every day, which has become a kind of ritual, I have to say: 'Yes, you are going to get out of there, this is not the end of your life. They are not going to be able to keep you in for years and years and years.' Because you just obviously feel so helpless and hopeless locked up in that place.' In a prison diary published in Inside Time, Plastow revealed he had suffered suicidal thoughts. He was denied bail despite agreeing to a slew of measures designed to limit his behavior, including wearing an electronic tag, having his phone and passport confiscated, and submitting regular police reports on his activity. The judge responsible for the decision said Plastow posed a risk of breaking the law again, his mother said. 'What you're being required to prove is a negative — well, you can never prove the negative, can you?' she said. 'You can't prove that you're not going to do anything.' Plastow's artner of a decade, Valentina Tschismarov, said: 'I think the worst that I have personally seen him was when his bail application was denied, which obviously was really disheartening for all of us. Shortly afterward myself and his mum went to visit him together and I was very worried at that point because he was really shaken, just out of it. 'Even on the phone in the weeks after that, he just sounded very distant and kind of broken down. It seems incredibly disproportionate. I always imagined that there were these protections in place and you couldn't just have somebody jailed without a conviction for these amounts of time. 'I think people are not really aware.' The 18 protesters arrested at the Elbit facility last year were initially arrested under the Terrorism Act, meaning they could be held for 14 days without charge. However, despite the Crown Prosecution Service saying the protest held a 'terrorism connection,' none of the 18 have been charged with terror offenses.


Asharq Al-Awsat
2 days ago
- Asharq Al-Awsat
A British TV Art Expert Who Sold Works to a Suspected Hezbollah Financier is Sentenced to Prison
An art expert who appeared on the BBC's Bargain Hunt show was sentenced Friday to two and a half years in prison for failing to report his sale of pricey works to a suspected financier of Lebanon's militant Hezbollah group. At a previous hearing, Oghenochuko Ojiri, 53, had pleaded guilty to eight offenses under the Terrorism Act 2000. The art sales for about 140,000 pounds ($185,000) to Nazem Ahmad, a diamond and art dealer sanctioned by the UK and US as a Hezbollah financier, took place between October 2020 and December 2021. The sanctions were designed to prevent anyone in the UK or US from trading with Ahmad or his businesses, The Associated Press said. Ojiri, who also appeared on the BBC's Antiques Road Trip, faced a possible sentence of five years in prison in the hearing at London's Central Criminal Court, which is better known as the Old Bailey. In addition to the prison term, Justice Bobbie Cheema-Grubb said Ojiri faces an additional year on license — a period of time after a prison sentence ends when an offender must stay out of trouble or risk going back to prison. She told Ojiri he had been involved in a commercial relationship 'for prestige and profit' and that until his involvement with Ahmad, he was 'someone to be admired.' 'You knew about Ahmad's suspected involvement in financing terrorism and the way the art market can be exploited by someone like him," she said. "This is the nadir — there is one direction your life can go and I am confident that you will not be in front of the courts again.' The Met's investigation into Ojiri was carried out alongside Homeland Security in the US, which is conducting a wider investigation into alleged money laundering by Ahmad using shell companies. 'This prosecution, using specific Terrorism Act legislation, is the first of its kind and should act as a warning to all art dealers that we can, and will, pursue those who knowingly do business with people identified as funders of terrorist groups,' said Commander Dominic Murphy, head of the Metropolitan Police's Counter Terrorism Command. Ahmad was sanctioned in 2019 by the US Treasury, which said he was a prominent Lebanon-based money launderer involved in smuggling blood diamonds, which are mined in conflict zones and sold to finance violence. Two years ago, the UK Treasury froze Ahmad's assets because he financed Hezbollah, the Iranian-backed Shiite militant organization that has been designated an international terrorist group. Following Ojiri's arrest in April 2023, the Met obtained a warrant to seize a number of artworks, including a Picasso and Andy Warhol paintings, belonging to Ahmad and held in two warehouses in the UK The collection, valued at almost 1 million pounds, is due to be sold with the funds to be reinvested back into the police, the Crown Prosecution Service and the Home Office.