Algeria Sentences MAK Leader to 20 Years in Prison

Leader of Kabylia Self-Determination Movement (MAK), Ferhat Mehenni
Leader of Kabylia Self-Determination Movement (MAK), Ferhat Mehenni
TT

Algeria Sentences MAK Leader to 20 Years in Prison

Leader of Kabylia Self-Determination Movement (MAK), Ferhat Mehenni
Leader of Kabylia Self-Determination Movement (MAK), Ferhat Mehenni

A criminal court in the Algerian capital on Wednesday sentenced in absentia the leader of Kabylia Self-Determination Movement (MAK), Ferhat Mehenni, and six other people to 20 years in prison on charges of “committing terrorist and subversive acts targeting the security of the state and national unity.”
The rulings included 20 other defendants, who stood before the judges and were questioned about their crimes.
The court sought penalties for the group of defendants ranging from three to 10 years. They were accused of trading “considerable quantities of weapons and spreading ideas that target the security of the state.”
Algeria has a “strict” criminal law in penalties against defendants classified as “fugitives.”
Four other defendants in the case were acquitted for lack of evidence.
Founded 20 years ago, MAK is a group advocating for self-determination for Algeria's Amazigh Kabylia region, in the east of the country.
In his defense, a representative of the public prosecutor accused the defendants of participating in organizations and groups engaged in terrorist and subversive activities.
He said they “used information and communication technologies to recruit people for the benefit of a terrorist organization”.
The court representative also accused them of receiving funds from foreign parties to conduct acts targeting the security of the state and of “plotting with the Zionist entity.”
In return, the defense team has denied all the charges and said there is a lack of evidence against the defendants. The team demanded that the court brings the weapons and ammunition that security services claim they had seized.
In May 2021, the Algerian regime designated MAK a “terrorist group”.
Mehenni, 72, and the six other defendants live in France, where they benefit from a political asylum status.
In 2021, the Algerian judiciary issued an international arrest warrant for the MAK leader and accused him of being involved in the significant wildfires that affected the country and several other cases.
Mehenni, a famous singer, founded the movement in 2001 following bloody clashes between Algerian security forces and residents from the Kbaylia region after a young man was killed by a police officer.
The clashes left 170 dead and tens of injuries.
In video footage that was shared online, Mehenni denied all the accusations made against him.
In 2010, the movement declared the establishment of a temporary government led by Mehenni for the Kabylia region in Paris.

 

 



Hezbollah Says Fired Missiles at Base Near South Israel's Ashdod

Israel’s Iron Dome anti-missile system operates to intercept incoming projectiles, amid hostilities between Hezbollah and Israeli forces, in Nahariya, Israel, November 21, 2024. REUTERS/Thomas Peter
Israel’s Iron Dome anti-missile system operates to intercept incoming projectiles, amid hostilities between Hezbollah and Israeli forces, in Nahariya, Israel, November 21, 2024. REUTERS/Thomas Peter
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Hezbollah Says Fired Missiles at Base Near South Israel's Ashdod

Israel’s Iron Dome anti-missile system operates to intercept incoming projectiles, amid hostilities between Hezbollah and Israeli forces, in Nahariya, Israel, November 21, 2024. REUTERS/Thomas Peter
Israel’s Iron Dome anti-missile system operates to intercept incoming projectiles, amid hostilities between Hezbollah and Israeli forces, in Nahariya, Israel, November 21, 2024. REUTERS/Thomas Peter

Hezbollah said its fighters on Thursday fired missiles at a military base near south Israel’s Ashdod, the first time it has targeted so deep inside Israel in more than a year of hostilities.

Hezbollah fighters "targeted... for the first time, the Hatzor air base" east of the southern city, around 150 kilometers from Lebanon’s southern border with Israel, "with a missile salvo," the Iran-backed group said in a statement.

A rocket fired from Lebanon killed a man and wounded two others in northern Israel on Thursday, according to the Magen David Adom rescue service.
The service said paramedics found the body of the man in his 30s near a playground in the town of Nahariya, near the border with Lebanon, after a rocket attack on Thursday.
Israel meanwhile struck targets in southern Lebanon and several buildings south of Beirut, the Lebanese capital.

Israel has launched airstrikes against Lebanon after Hezbollah began firing rockets, drones and missiles into Israel the day after Hamas' attack on Israel last October. A full-blown war erupted in September after nearly a year of lower-level conflict.
More than 3,500 people have been killed in Lebanon, according to the country’s Health Ministry, and over 1 million people have been displaced. It is not known how many of those killed were Hezbollah fighters and how many were civilians.
On the Israeli side, Hezbollah’s aerial attacks have killed more than 70 people and driven some 60,000 from their homes.