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Al Arabiya
09-07-2025
- Politics
- Al Arabiya
Spain charges 8 in Iran-linked assassination attempt on ex-politician Vidal-Quadras
Spain's High Court charged eight individuals on Wednesday with the attempted assassination of former right wing politician Alejo Vidal-Quadras over his ties to an Iranian opposition group and support for dissident groups. Vidal-Quadras, 80, a founder of Spain's far-right Vox party, was shot in the face by a motorbike pillion passenger as he walked through Madrid's upscale Salamanca neighborhood on November 9, 2023. The bullet passed through his jaw. Investigating judge Santiago Pedraz said the assault was ordered by unidentified individuals seeking revenge for Vidal-Quadras' advocacy for resistance to Iran's clerical government. 'Unidentified individuals instructed members of the criminal organization ... to carry out 'a mission' consisting of ending the life of Alejo Vidal-Quadras,' the judge said in a court document seen by Reuters. The suspects, Pedraz said, were part of a coordinated group involved in crimes targeting the lives of individuals, with some members reportedly under investigation in multiple countries. The Dutch intelligence agency said earlier this year it suspected Tehran of being behind two assassination attempts in Europe. The suspected hitman in the Vidal-Quadras case was arrested in Netherlands, where he is also linked to an assassination attempt on an Iranian resident. The eight suspects, charged with membership in a criminal organization and attempted terrorist murder, are alleged to have procured materials such as vehicles, funds and weapons as part of their operation, the judge said. 'I am very happy that the judge has produced this statement because that reflects the reality of the case,' Vidal-Quadras told Reuters on Wednesday. 'Let's hope that now the government will take some action.' Prosecutors and defense lawyers may appeal the charges before the case moves to trial. Iran had included Vidal-Quadras on a sanctions list in October 2022, in retaliation for EU sanctions imposed after the death in custody of Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old Iranian Kurdish woman arrested for allegedly flouting Iran's mandatory dress code.
Al Bawaba
04-07-2025
- Politics
- Al Bawaba
Forged his university degree: Istanbul mayor back behind bars
ALBAWABA - Ekrem Imamoglu, a prominent opposition figure and imprisoned mayor of Istanbul, is facing a fresh criminal investigation from Turkish authorities alleging that he falsified his university degree. Also Read Outrage in Turkey after women in imam robes twerk inside mosque Members of the opposition-led municipalities are the target of a growing statewide crackdown, and the most recent charge carries a maximum term of nine years in prison. Prosecutors filed the accusation on Friday, asking for an 8-year, 9-month term for Imamoglu, a prominent member of the Republican People's Party (CHP) and a possible candidate in Turkey's next presidential election, according to the Turkish daily Milliyet. Imamoglu and his party adamantly dispute the accusations that he falsified academic records, which are at the heart of the investigation. Imamoglu was arrested the next day on suspicion of corruption after Istanbul University revoked his degree in March. Widespread protests and charges of political persecution followed his detention. Imamoglu was ordered to stay in jail until his trial by a court on March 23. The administration disputes the CHP's assertion that the judicial cases are being planned to destroy political rivals of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, arguing that they are legitimate and non-political. El alcalde de Estambul, Ekrem Imamoglu, enfrenta acusaciones de falsificación de su título universitario mientras está detenido. La Fiscalía pide casi 9 años de prisión. Esto se suma a los ataques del gobierno turco contra líderes opositores. Lee más aquí: — El Contenido (@elcontenidonews) July 4, 2025 Police detained the mayor of Manavgat, a town in the southern Antalya province, who is also connected to the CHP, on Friday as part of a separate investigation. The arrest is a part of a larger investigation into allegations of corruption and bribery involving the municipality, according to Turkey's state television TRT. 33 other people, including multiple deputy mayors, have been arrested by authorities in relation to the investigation. In the western city of İzmir, police conducted a significant anti-corruption operation this week, raiding municipal offices and detaining both current and former officials. On the basis of claims of contract violations, bid manipulation, and fraud in public projects, prosecutors issued 157 arrest warrants. Concerns over the fairness of Turkey's judiciary and the possible use of legal means to marginalize political rivals in advance of the country's next elections are raised by the expanding probes into opposition-led municipalities at a politically delicate moment.
Al Jazeera
01-07-2025
- Politics
- Al Jazeera
Venezuelan lawmakers declare UN human rights chief persona non grata
Venezuela's National Assembly has voted to declare United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk persona non grata after he publicly criticised the government's human rights violations. The unanimous Tuesday declaration follows comments from Turk last week before the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva, condemning what he said were arbitrary detentions and forced disappearances. In remarks before the declaration, Assembly President Jorge Rodriguez accused Turk of turning a 'blind eye' to other rights abuses, such as the deportation of Venezuelan immigrants living in the United States to a detention facility in El Salvador. However, Turk released a statement expressing concern over those deportations in May, while his remarks about alleged abuses in Venezuela come at a time when numerous human rights organisations have condemned the Venezuelan authorities' crackdown on political opposition after a contested election last July. The declaration of Turk as persona non grata does not have an immediate impact, but the government could move to expel his office from the country, as has occurred in the past. Tensions have been high in Venezuela since President Nicolas Maduro declared victory in a 2024 presidential election, which the opposition has maintained was fraudulently stolen by the government. Human rights groups have said that the Maduro government oversaw a crackdown on dissent after the election, which left dozens dead. Police also arrested opposition lawmakers, whom the government accuses of collaborating with hostile foreign powers. A recent legislative and regional election saw lower turnout amid calls for a boycott from the opposition and fear of government repression. While the Maduro government has criticised the administration of US President Donald Trump for its mass deportation of immigrants living in the US, which has also drawn concern from human rights groups, Venezuela has been open to cooperation with the Trump administration on questions of immigration enforcement, agreeing to receive people deported from the US in March.
Fox News
27-06-2025
- Politics
- Fox News
Venezuelan opposition member details harrowing 400-day captivity at UN
Pedro Urruchurtu spoke to the United Nations Human Rights Council on Friday about what he had endured at the hands of Nicolás Maduro's regime while being forced to shelter in place for over 400 days. Urruchurtu and four other members of Venezuela's political opposition were freed in May in a successful U.S. rescue mission. He and his colleagues were effectively trapped inside the Argentine Embassy in Caracas — where the opposition members fled to, and were sheltered due to the diplomatic status of the embassy. The opposition figures were under siege by regime forces who made their lives extremely difficult due to their control of the utilities. Urruchurtu told the council he had endured "five months without electricity, three minutes of water every ten days, rifles pointed at the windows, and dogs trained to bite; only because those in power considered it a crime to direct the campaigns of Maria Corina Machado in the opposition primaries and Edmundo González in the presidential elections. Both won." "Today I am here despite the state, and not thanks to it, because if it were up to it, I would be missing or dead," Urruchurtu said. United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk told the council that since May 1, 2024, the human rights situation in Venezuela has only gotten worse. The people have experienced "arbitrary detentions, violations of due process and enforced disappearances, amid continued allegations of torture and ill-treatment." Türk revealed that his office had documented 32 people — 15 of them adolescents — who reported being tortured and ill-treated in detention. He also noted that 28 people had been subjected to enforced disappearance after the country's parliamentary elections, which took place in May 2025. He said their whereabouts remain unknown and that at least 12 of them were foreign nationals who "do not have access to consular assistance." "The world must no longer look away from the brutal reality of what the once-beautiful Venezuela has become. Nicolás Maduro and his enforcers are running a criminal narco-terrorist dictatorship that jails political opponents, tortures dissidents, and crushes any hope of free expression. Pedro's voice today represents the cries of thousands of Venezuelans who remain imprisoned, persecuted or forced into exile, as slaves to the regime," UN Watch Executive Director Hillel Neuer told Fox News Digital. Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced in a post on X on May 6 that the opposition members, including Urruchurtu, had been rescued in "a precise operation" and brought to the U.S. A few weeks later, Rubio met with the released opposition members. State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce said that Rubio had commended the Venezuelan opposition members for their "bravery in the face of Maduro's relentless repression and tyranny." Neuer also expressed gratitude for the Trump administration and Rubio's actions, which led to Urruchurtu's release. "Thank you to the Trump administration and the Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, for their critical role in securing Pedro's release and the release of his comrades. Once again, proving that strong, principled diplomacy saves lives and advances the cause of freedom for the world," Neuer told Fox News Digital.
Reuters
23-06-2025
- Politics
- Reuters
Argentina's ex-President Kirchner, under house arrest, plots political fight-back
BUENOS AIRES, June 23 (Reuters) - On a Buenos Aires residential street, two protesters painted a telling image in colorful strokes: a portrait of a lone woman on her balcony overlooking a mass of people below. The figure was one of Argentina's most prominent politicians in the last two decades - leading opposition leader and former first lady and two-time president Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner, who was put under house arrest last week in a six-year sentence for corruption. It means the end of a political career - at least formally - for the 72-year-old, a divisive populist whose big government model is now being dismantled by the "chainsaw" austerity of libertarian President Javier Milei. The sentence also bans Kirchner, who had announced plans to run for Buenos Aires province's legislature, from public office. That second-floor balcony - the one place from which Kirchner can now rally her base due to her city apartment lockdown - is becoming a focal point for supporters on the Peronist left, with her detention putting a spotlight back on her as a symbol of resistance to Milei. "It gives Cristina's leadership political clout that she was losing," said Camila Perochena, a historian at the Universidad Torcuato Di Tella in Buenos Aires. "This gives her extra life." Kirchner's house arrest has brought tens of thousands of protesters into the streets of Buenos Aires in recent days, and injected much-needed energy into her movement, which had been battling internal divisions and disillusionment, especially since losing the 2023 presidential election to Milei. "This puts her right in the center of the political stage," Juan Grabois, a prominent leftist social leader and a close ally of Kirchner, told Reuters. At least in the short term, experts said the corruption sentence linked to roadway contracts would help Kirchner, though longer-term it remains to be seen if she can effectively wield influence without being able to attend rallies and events in person. Last Wednesday, Kirchner was in her home serving house arrest while in the central Plaza de Mayo, her voice boomed from huge loudspeakers before crowds that had marched in downtown Buenos Aires. "We will return, and what's more we will return with more wisdom, more unity, more strength," she told supporters in a pre-recorded message. "From wherever I am, from whatever trench, I will do everything I can to be there with you." Listening in the Plaza was Andrea Albarracin, 35, a member of Kirchner's Peronist Justicialista Party. "I don't hear a Cristina who has been defeated," she said. Maria Teresa Garcia, secretary general of the party, told Reuters that Kirchner would continue to lead because "there isn't another person who can raise her voice like Cristina." Many who gathered in the last few days outside of Kirchner's home repeated her claims that her detention - after an original 2022 sentence when she was vice president was upheld by the Supreme Court this month - was an act of political revenge by the right-wing. "They're coming for Cristina because she represents and epitomizes everything the concentrated powers of this country detest," said supporter Christopher Loyola, who backed the Peronists' big state spending on education, health and science. That big government focus helped Argentina have one of the strongest social safety nets in the region and boosted the public sector, but money printing to sustain it was partly to blame for years of soaring inflation and deep deficits. The night that Kirchner's sentence was upheld, Loyola waited in the cold to show his backing for Kirchner, who while divisive still has some 30% popular support, opens new tab, according to local polls, that gives her influence over the wider Peronist bloc. Last week, large banners outside Kirchner's apartment said "Always with Cristina." Vendors sold T-shirts with Kirchner's face. Supporters danced as a brass band played "Muchachos," Argentina's last soccer World Cup anthem. Yamila Perdomo, 41, a tour guide who had an Argentine flag draped on her back, had caught a glimpse of Kirchner on her balcony waving to supporters. "If this can happen to the most powerful woman in our country, imagine what guarantees regular citizens have," said Perdomo. "We are here in defense of democracy."
