Tunisia Sentences Five to Death in 2019 Terror Bombings

Police officers are seen at the site of an explosion in downtown Tunis, Tunisia, June 27, 2019. REUTERS/Zoubeir Souissi
Police officers are seen at the site of an explosion in downtown Tunis, Tunisia, June 27, 2019. REUTERS/Zoubeir Souissi
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Tunisia Sentences Five to Death in 2019 Terror Bombings

Police officers are seen at the site of an explosion in downtown Tunis, Tunisia, June 27, 2019. REUTERS/Zoubeir Souissi
Police officers are seen at the site of an explosion in downtown Tunis, Tunisia, June 27, 2019. REUTERS/Zoubeir Souissi

A Tunisian court in charge of investigating terrorism-related cases sentenced to death on Tuesday five defendants in the 2019 terrorist explosions.

The twin blasts occurred on the same day in Charles de Gaulle Street in central Tunis and another near a police station in Al-Qarjani district.

The court sentenced three of the accused to death and 10 years imprisonment in the case of the terrorist blast in Al Qarjani district. A suicide bomber on his motorbike waited for a few minutes until the gate of the headquarters of the anti-terrorism brigade was opened. He then blew himself up, wounding four and killing one.

Investigations showed that the attack wasn't an individual act but had several perpetrators.

The second terrorist explosion targeted a municipality police patrol that was stationed at the entrance of Charles de Gaulle Street in the capital Tunis.

Judiciary and security investigations, in this case, included seven of the accused. Two received death and 10-year imprisonment sentences, while a third was handed out a 10-year imprisonment sentence along with five-year security supervision after his release.

In the same case, the court issued life-imprisonment sentences against three others, while another detainee was sentenced to 20 years in prison along with five years of security supervision after his release.

Tunisia has been battling terrorist attacks following the 2011 revolution.

The most dangerous were the attack on Bardo National Museum, which killed 22 foreigners, and the terrorist attack on the “Imperial” hotel, which killed 39 foreign tourists – most of them Brits.

Military and security units were also targeted by a series of attacks that killed dozens.



With Nowhere Else to Hide, Gazans Shelter in Former Prison

24 July 2024, Palestinian Territories, Khan Younis: Displaced Palestinians stay in Asda prison in Khan Younis after the Israeli army ordered them to leave their homes in the towns of Abasan, Bani Suhaila, Ma'an, Al-Zana and a number of other villages, amid Israel-Hamas conflict. (dpa)
24 July 2024, Palestinian Territories, Khan Younis: Displaced Palestinians stay in Asda prison in Khan Younis after the Israeli army ordered them to leave their homes in the towns of Abasan, Bani Suhaila, Ma'an, Al-Zana and a number of other villages, amid Israel-Hamas conflict. (dpa)
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With Nowhere Else to Hide, Gazans Shelter in Former Prison

24 July 2024, Palestinian Territories, Khan Younis: Displaced Palestinians stay in Asda prison in Khan Younis after the Israeli army ordered them to leave their homes in the towns of Abasan, Bani Suhaila, Ma'an, Al-Zana and a number of other villages, amid Israel-Hamas conflict. (dpa)
24 July 2024, Palestinian Territories, Khan Younis: Displaced Palestinians stay in Asda prison in Khan Younis after the Israeli army ordered them to leave their homes in the towns of Abasan, Bani Suhaila, Ma'an, Al-Zana and a number of other villages, amid Israel-Hamas conflict. (dpa)

After weeks of Israeli bombardment left them with nowhere else to go, hundreds of Palestinians have ended up in a former Gaza prison built to hold murderers and thieves.

Yasmeen al-Dardasi said she and her family passed wounded people they were unable to help as they evacuated from a district in the southern city of Khan Younis towards its Central Correction and Rehabilitation Facility.

They spent a day under a tree before moving on to the former prison, where they now live in a prayer room. It offers protection from the blistering sun, but not much else.

Dardasi's husband has a damaged kidney and just one lung, but no mattress or blanket.

"We are not settled here either," said Dardasi, who like many Palestinians fears she will be uprooted once again.

Israel has said it goes out of its way to protect civilians in its war with the Palestinian group Hamas, which runs Gaza and led the attack on Israel on Oct. 7 that sparked the latest conflict.

Palestinians, many of whom have been displaced several times, say nowhere is free of Israeli bombardment, which has reduced much of Gaza to rubble.

An Israeli air strike killed at least 90 Palestinians in a designated humanitarian zone in the Al-Mawasi area on July 13, the territory's health ministry said, in an attack that Israel said targeted Hamas' elusive military chief Mohammed Deif.

On Thursday, Gaza's health ministry said Israeli military strikes on areas in eastern Khan Younis had killed 14 people.

Entire neighborhoods have been flattened in one of the most densely populated places in the world, where poverty and unemployment have long been widespread.

According to the United Nations, nine in ten people across Gaza are now internally displaced.

Israeli soldiers told Saria Abu Mustafa and her family that they should flee for safety as tanks were on their way, she said. The family had no time to change so they left in their prayer clothes.

After sleeping outside on sandy ground, they too found refuge in the prison, among piles of rubble and gaping holes in buildings from the battles which were fought there. Inmates had been released long before Israel attacked.

"We didn't take anything with us. We came here on foot, with children walking with us," she said, adding that many of the women had five or six children with them and that water was hard to find.

She held her niece, who was born during the conflict, which has killed her father and brothers.

When Hamas-led gunmen burst into southern Israel from Gaza on Oct. 7 they killed 1,200 people and took more than 250 people hostage, according to Israeli tallies.

More than 39,000 Palestinians have been killed in the air and ground offensive Israel launched in response, Palestinian health officials say.

Hana Al-Sayed Abu Mustafa arrived at the prison after being displaced six times.

If Egyptian, US and Qatari mediators fail to secure a ceasefire they have long said is close, she and other Palestinians may be on the move once again. "Where should we go? All the places that we go to are dangerous," she said.