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Sisi Instructs Army to Protect Companies Operating In Sinai

An Egyptian military vehicle is seen on the highway in northern Sinai, Egypt, May 25, 2015. - REUTERS/Asmaa Waguih/File Photo
An Egyptian military vehicle is seen on the highway in northern Sinai, Egypt, May 25, 2015. - REUTERS/Asmaa Waguih/File Photo
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Sisi Instructs Army to Protect Companies Operating In Sinai

An Egyptian military vehicle is seen on the highway in northern Sinai, Egypt, May 25, 2015. - REUTERS/Asmaa Waguih/File Photo
An Egyptian military vehicle is seen on the highway in northern Sinai, Egypt, May 25, 2015. - REUTERS/Asmaa Waguih/File Photo

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi ordered the military on Tuesday to protect companies operating in Sinai, warning “evil groups” against obstructing development projects in the area.

Attending the inauguration of a number of development projects in the Peninsula via videoconference, Sisi said: “Evil groups (active in Sinai) should clearly understand that the State is strongly securing those projects.”

In the past years, the Egyptian military and police in north and central Sinai governorate have battled armed groups, including 'Wilayat Sinai,” a local ISIS affiliate.

Those groups have escalated their attacks particularly after President Mohamed Morsi was removed from office in 2013.

However, in February 2018, the Egyptian military launched a major campaign against the militants and defeated them.

On Tuesday, Sisi saw the launch of the second stage of building the Ismailiya-Awja highway and the opening of the Ahmad Hamdi Tunnel, a 1640-meter long car tunnel under the Suez Canal at Shallufa.

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Germany Hands Syrian Doctor Life for Torturing Assad Critics

Syrian doctor Alaa M., accused of crimes against humanity, arrives for his judgment in the security room of the Higher Regional Court in Frankfurt am Main, Germany, 16 June 2025. (EPA)
Syrian doctor Alaa M., accused of crimes against humanity, arrives for his judgment in the security room of the Higher Regional Court in Frankfurt am Main, Germany, 16 June 2025. (EPA)
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Germany Hands Syrian Doctor Life for Torturing Assad Critics

Syrian doctor Alaa M., accused of crimes against humanity, arrives for his judgment in the security room of the Higher Regional Court in Frankfurt am Main, Germany, 16 June 2025. (EPA)
Syrian doctor Alaa M., accused of crimes against humanity, arrives for his judgment in the security room of the Higher Regional Court in Frankfurt am Main, Germany, 16 June 2025. (EPA)

A Syrian doctor who had practiced in Germany was sentenced to life in prison by a German court on Monday for crimes against humanity and war crimes after he was found guilty of torturing dissidents in Syria.

The 40-year-old, identified only as Alaa M. in accordance with German privacy laws, was found guilty of killing two people and torturing another eight during his time working in Syria as a doctor at a military hospital and detention center in Homs in 2011 and 2012.

The court said his crimes were part of a systematic attack against people protesting against then-President Bashar al-Assad that precipitated the country's civil war.

Assad was toppled in December. His government denied it tortured prisoners.

Alaa M. arrived in Germany in 2015, after fleeing to Germany among a large influx of Syrian refugees, and became one of roughly 10,000 Syrian medics who helped ease acute staff shortages in the country's healthcare system.

He was arrested in June 2020, and was handed a life sentence without parole, the Higher Regional Court in Frankfurt said in a statement.

The defendant had pleaded not guilty, saying he was the target of a conspiracy.

German prosecutors have used universal jurisdiction laws that allow them to seek trials for suspects in crimes against humanity committed anywhere in the world.

They have targeted several former Syrian officials in similar cases in recent years.

The plaintiffs were supported by the European Center for Constitutional and Human Rights.

ECCHR lawyer Patrick Kroker called Monday's ruling "a further step towards a comprehensive reckoning with Assad's crimes".

Judges found that the doctor caused "considerable physical suffering" as a result of the torture inflicted on his victims, which included serious beatings, mistreating wounds and inflicting serious injury to the genitals of two prisoners, one of whom was a teenage boy.

Two patients died after he gave them lethal medication, the court statement said.

Monday's ruling can be appealed.