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Tunisia Sentences 4 to Death, 2 to Life in Prison for Assassination of Chokri Belaid

Tunisian political leader Chokri Belaid
Tunisian political leader Chokri Belaid
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Tunisia Sentences 4 to Death, 2 to Life in Prison for Assassination of Chokri Belaid

Tunisian political leader Chokri Belaid
Tunisian political leader Chokri Belaid

A Tunisian court on Wednesday sentenced four people to death and two people to life in prison on charges of participating in the murder of prominent political leader Chokri Belaid 11 years ago.

Belaid, a leftist politician, had been a fierce critic of Islamist Ennahda party. He was shot dead in his car by gunmen on Feb. 6, 2013.

Near Tunis court, dozens of Belaid supporters have gathered since Tuesday night, raising slogans demanding justice.

They chanted "Chokri is always alive" and "we are loyal to the blood of the martyrs".

Months after Belaid’s assassination, Mohamed Brahmi another leftist was shot dead by gunmen also.

Those involved in the assassination of Belaid and Brahmi belonged to Ansar al-Sharia, an organization classified as a "terrorist group" by the government in August 2013.

Ennahda deny strongly any connection to the assassination.

"The details concluded by the judicial circles clearly show evidence of the innocence of the Ennahda", Ennahda said on Wednesday in a statement.

It added that this verdict should restore respect to those who have been affected by false political accusations, especially the leader of Ennahda Rached Ghannouchi.

Ennahda called for opening a new page of major reconciliations and ending strife, exclusion and hatred.

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Sudan Army Says Recaptures Key State Capital

Sudanese civilians displaced by offensive south of Khartoum earlier this year dream of returning to their homes after the regular army retakes territory - AFP
Sudanese civilians displaced by offensive south of Khartoum earlier this year dream of returning to their homes after the regular army retakes territory - AFP
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Sudan Army Says Recaptures Key State Capital

Sudanese civilians displaced by offensive south of Khartoum earlier this year dream of returning to their homes after the regular army retakes territory - AFP
Sudanese civilians displaced by offensive south of Khartoum earlier this year dream of returning to their homes after the regular army retakes territory - AFP

The Sudanese army said Saturday it had retaken a key state capital south of Khartoum from rival Rapid Support Forces who had held it for the past five months.

The Sennar state capital of Sinja is a strategic prize in the 19-month-old war between the regular army and the RSF as it lies on a key road linking army-controlled areas of eastern and central Sudan.

It posted footage on social media that it said had been filmed inside the main base in the city.

"Sinja has returned to the embrace of the nation," the information minister of the army-backed government, Khaled al-Aiser, said in a statement.

Aiser's office said armed forces chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan had travelled to the city of Sennar, 60 kilometres (40 miles) to the north, on Saturday to "inspect the operation and celebrate the liberation of Sinja", AFP reported.

The RSF had taken the two cities in a lightning offensive in June that saw nearly 726,000 civilians flee, according to UN figures.

Human rights groups have said that those who were unwilling or unable to leave have faced months of arbitrary violence by RSF fighters.

Sinja teacher Abdullah al-Hassan spoke of his "indescribable joy" at seeing the army enter the city after "months of terror".

"At any moment, you were waiting for militia fighters to barge in and beat you or loot you," the 53-year-old told AFP by telephone.

Both sides in the Sudanese conflict have been accused of war crimes, including indiscriminately shelling homes, markets and hospitals.

The RSF has also been accused of summary executions, systematic sexual violence and rampant looting.

The RSF control nearly all of the vast western region of Darfur as well as large swathes of Kordofan in the south. They also hold much of the capital Khartoum and the key farming state of Al-Jazira to its south.

Since April 2023, the war has killed tens of thousands of people and uprooted more than 11 million -- creating what the UN says is the world's largest displacement crisis.

From the eastern state of Gedaref -- where more than 1.1 million displaced people have sought refuge -- Asia Khedr, 46, said she hoped her family's ordeal might soon be at an end.

"We'll finally go home and say goodbye to this life of displacement and suffering," she told AFP.