Sweden to charge terrorist over plot to kill Jordanian pilot
Sweden's Prosecution Authority said in a statement it planned to charge a 32-year-old Swedish citizen on May 27 with 'serious war crimes and terrorist crimes in Syria.'
The man, Osama Krayem, has already been sentenced for his involvement in the 2015 attacks in Paris and the attacks in Brussels a year later.
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Arab News
an hour ago
- Arab News
Author Sally Rooney says she will use BBC royalties to support banned group Palestine Action
LONDON: Irish novelist Sally Rooney has said she intends to use royalties from the BBC to fund Palestine Action, a group banned in the UK last month under terrorism legislation, it was reported on Sunday. For the latest updates, follow us on Instagram @ The 'Normal People' author made the remarks in a column for the Irish Times, where she argued that if her actions are considered terrorism under British law, 'so be it.' She wrote: 'My books, at least for now, are still published in Britain, and are widely available in bookshops and even supermarkets, in recent years the UK's state broadcaster has also televised two fine adaptations of my novels, and therefore regularly pays me residual fees.' She continued: 'I want to be clear that I intend to use these proceeds of my work, as well as my public platform generally, to go on supporting Palestine Action and direct action against genocide in whatever way I can. 'If the British state considers this 'terrorism', then perhaps it should investigate the shady organisations that continue to promote my work and fund my activities, such as WH Smith and the BBC.' The broadcaster and bookseller have not yet commented on Rooney's remarks. Palestine Action was proscribed by the UK Home Secretary Yvette Cooper in July after activists allegedly broke into RAF Brize Norton in Oxfordshire and damaged two military aircraft, causing £7 million ($9.5 million) of damage. Membership, support or funding of the group carries a prison sentence of up to 14 years. Rooney, whose novels 'Normal People' and 'Conversations with Friends' have been adapted into BBC dramas, said she felt compelled to speak out after 'more than 500 peaceful protesters' were arrested in a single day on Aug. 9. 'If this makes me a 'supporter of terror' under UK law, so be it,' she wrote. She noted that in the six weeks since the ban, police had arrested more than 700 people for supporting the group. According to the Metropolitan Police, a further 60 individuals are set to be prosecuted, while Norfolk Police confirmed that 13 people were detained at a protest in Norwich on Saturday. Rooney said those arrested included an Irish citizen and a woman in Belfast. She criticized what she described as 'political policing,' contrasting the arrests with the absence of action when a mural celebrating the proscribed Ulster Volunteer Force was repainted in north Belfast last year. 'Palestine Action, proscribed under the same law, is responsible for zero deaths and has never advocated the use of violence against any human being,' she said. 'Why then are its supporters arrested for wearing T-shirts, while murals celebrating loyalist death squads are left untouched?' The author also questioned why Dublin, where the government has made its stance clear that Israel is committing genocide, had not intervened. 'Why then are its supporters arrested for protesting an acknowledged genocide?' she asked. Rooney has previously expressed support for Palestine Action in a witness statement submitted to the High Court in London, where the proscription is being challenged by one of its founders. She accused Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer's government of stripping citizens of 'basic rights and freedoms' in order to protect ties with Israel. The ramifications, she said, were 'profound,' warning that 'an increasing number of artists and writers can no longer safely travel to Britain to speak in public.'
Al Arabiya
11 hours ago
- Al Arabiya
Car explodes in Damascus, no casualties: Syria state media
Syrian state media said a car bomb exploded in Damascus on Saturday evening without causing casualties. 'An explosion was heard in the Mazzeh area,' state news agency SANA said, referring to an upscale area of Damascus also home to embassies and United Nations offices. State television said the blast was caused by 'an explosive device planted inside an old car,' adding that there were no reports of injuries. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitor said the blast targeted a vehicle near a hotel.
Arab News
19 hours ago
- Arab News
UK to prosecute 60 people for supporting banned pro-Palestine group
LONDON: At least 60 people will be prosecuted for 'showing support' for the recently proscribed Palestine Action group, in addition to three already charged, London's Metropolitan Police said. 'We have put arrangements in place that will enable us to investigate and prosecute significant numbers each week if necessary,' the Met said in a statement. More than 700 people have been arrested since it was banned as a terrorist group in early July, including 522 people arrested at a protest last weekend for displaying placards backing the group — thought to be the highest ever recorded number of detentions at a single protest in the UK capital. 'The decisions that we have announced today are the first significant numbers to come out of the recent protests, and many more can be expected in the next few weeks,' said Director of Public Prosecutions Stephen Parkinson. 'People should be clear about the real-life consequences for anyone choosing to support Palestine Action,' said Parkinson. The first three people were charged earlier this month with offenses under the Terrorism Act for backing Palestine Action, after they were arrested at a July demonstration. According to police, those charged for such offenses could face up to six months imprisonment, as well as other consequences. 'I am proud of how our police and CPS (prosecution) teams have worked so speedily together to overcome misguided attempts to overwhelm the justice system,' Met Police Commissioner Mark Rowley said. In a statement following the latest mass arrests, Interior Minister Yvette Cooper defended the Labour government's decision, insisting: 'UK national security and public safety must always be our top priority.' 'The assessments are very clear — this is not a nonviolent organization,' she added. The government outlawed Palestine Action on July 7, days after it took responsibility for a break-in at an air force base in southern England that caused an estimated £7.0 million ($9.3 million) of damage to two aircraft. The group said its activists were responding to Britain's indirect military support for Israel amid the war in Gaza. Britain's Interior Ministry has insisted that Palestine Action was also suspected of other 'serious attacks' that involved 'violence, significant injuries and extensive criminal damage.' Critics, including the UN, Amnesty International, and Greenpeace, have criticized the proscription as an overreach of the law and warned that the ensuing arrests threaten free speech. The UK's Liberal Democrat party said that it was 'deeply concerned about the use of terrorism powers against peaceful protesters.'
