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Bouteflika’s Alleged Daughter Sentenced to 12 Years in Prison

Bouteflika, in a wheelchair after his 2014 re-election. (EPA)
Bouteflika, in a wheelchair after his 2014 re-election. (EPA)
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Bouteflika’s Alleged Daughter Sentenced to 12 Years in Prison

Bouteflika, in a wheelchair after his 2014 re-election. (EPA)
Bouteflika, in a wheelchair after his 2014 re-election. (EPA)

An appeals court in Algeria on Thursday sentenced the alleged daughter of ousted President Abdelaziz Bouteflika to 12 years in prison after she was convicted in corruption cases.

The Appeals Court of Tipaza fined Zoulikha Nachinache, known as Maya, 6 million dinars, and ruled to confiscate all of her real estate assets.

The court also issued a ruling against a number of officials from Bouteflika’s former regime who have been involved in the same case. They include Abdelghani Zaalane, former minister of transport and the last director of Bouteflika's presidential campaign, who was sentenced to eight years in prison, former minister of labor, employment, and social security Mohamed El-Ghazi and Bouteflika’s national security director-general Abdelghani Hamel, who were both sentenced to ten years in jail.

The three former officials were each fined 1 million dinars.

The case dates back to the Bouteflika era, when Maya claimed to be the secret daughter of the president, with the aim of becoming closer to the economic sector ministers and enabling businessmen to obtain projects in exchange for bribes and gifts.

Maya appeared days ago at court where she was asked about her properties. She said that she was a businesswoman who works in the field of exports and imports which generated her massive income. She denied that she had claimed to be Bouteflika’s daughter. Her father, she added, has been friends with the former president since the days of revolution.

Further, she stated that former governor of Chlef, El-Ghazi granted one of her daughters a property in the region. Maya also benefited from 15,000 hectares of land to establish a park and another 5,000 hectares to launch a fuel services project.

The project was never implemented due to licensing issues and so she had to sell the property in violation of the investment law.

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Israel Says it Struck Hezbollah Weapons Smuggling Sites in Syria, Testing a Fragile Ceasefire

FILE PHOTO: Israeli soldiers patrol in Adaisseh village, southern Lebanon, on the second day of the ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah, as seen from Israel's side of the border, in northern Israel, November 28, 2024. REUTERS/Stoyan Nenov/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: Israeli soldiers patrol in Adaisseh village, southern Lebanon, on the second day of the ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah, as seen from Israel's side of the border, in northern Israel, November 28, 2024. REUTERS/Stoyan Nenov/File Photo
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Israel Says it Struck Hezbollah Weapons Smuggling Sites in Syria, Testing a Fragile Ceasefire

FILE PHOTO: Israeli soldiers patrol in Adaisseh village, southern Lebanon, on the second day of the ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah, as seen from Israel's side of the border, in northern Israel, November 28, 2024. REUTERS/Stoyan Nenov/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: Israeli soldiers patrol in Adaisseh village, southern Lebanon, on the second day of the ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah, as seen from Israel's side of the border, in northern Israel, November 28, 2024. REUTERS/Stoyan Nenov/File Photo

Israeli aircraft struck Hezbollah weapons smuggling sites along Syria's border with Lebanon, the Israeli military said Saturday, testing a fragile, days-old ceasefire that halted months of fighting between the sides but has seen continued sporadic fire.
The military said it struck sites that had been used to smuggle weapons from Syria to Lebanon after the ceasefire took effect, which the military said was a violation of its terms. There was no immediate comment from Syrian authorities or activists monitoring the conflict in that country. Hezbollah also did not immediately comment, The Associated Press said.
The Israeli strike, the latest of several since the ceasefire began on Wednesday, came as unrest spread to other areas of the Middle East, with Syrian insurgents breaching the country's largest city, Aleppo, in a shock offensive that added fresh uncertainty to a region reeling from multiple wars.
The truce between Israel and the Iran-backed Hezbollah, brokered by the United States and France, calls for an initial two-month ceasefire in which the militants are to withdraw north of Lebanon's Litani River and Israeli forces are to return to their side of the border.
The repeated bursts of violence — with no reports of serious casualties — reflected the uneasy nature of the ceasefire that otherwise appeared to hold. While Israel has accused Hezbollah of violating the ceasefire, Lebanon has also accused Israel of the same in the days since it took effect.
Many Lebanese, some of the 1.2 million displaced in the conflict, were streaming south to their homes, despite warnings by the Israeli and Lebanese militaries to stay away from certain areas.
Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency reported that an Israeli drone attacked a car in the southern village of Majdal Zoun. The agency said there had been casualties but gave no further details. Majdal Zoun, near the Mediterranean Sea, is close to where Israeli troops still have a presence.
The military said earlier Saturday that its forces, who remain in southern Lebanon until they withdraw gradually over the 60-day period, had been operating to distance “suspects” in the region, without elaborating, and said troops had located and seized weapons found hidden in a mosque.
Israel says it reserves the right under the ceasefire to strike against any perceived violations. Israel has made returning the tens of thousands of displaced Israelis home the goal of the war with Hezbollah but Israelis, concerned Hezbollah was not deterred and could still attack northern communities, have been apprehensive about returning home.
Hezbollah began attacking Israel on Oct. 8, 2023, in solidarity with the Palestinian militant group Hamas and its assault on southern Israel the day before. Israel and Hezbollah kept up a low-level conflict of cross-border fire for nearly a year, until Israel escalated its fight with a sophisticated attack that detonated hundreds of pagers and walkie-talkies used by Hezbollah fighters. It followed that up with an intense aerial bombardment campaign against Hezbollah assets, killing many of its top leaders including longtime chief Hassan Nasrallah, and it launched a ground invasion in early October.
More than 3,760 people have been killed by Israeli fire in Lebanon during the conflict, many of them civilians, according to Lebanese health officials. The fighting killed more than 70 people in Israel — over half of them civilians — as well as dozens of Israeli soldiers fighting in southern Lebanon.