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Egypt Sentences Top Muslim Brotherhood Leader to Life in Prison

Mahmoud Ezzat appears before the Criminal Court in 2021. (AFP)
Mahmoud Ezzat appears before the Criminal Court in 2021. (AFP)
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Egypt Sentences Top Muslim Brotherhood Leader to Life in Prison

Mahmoud Ezzat appears before the Criminal Court in 2021. (AFP)
Mahmoud Ezzat appears before the Criminal Court in 2021. (AFP)

An Egyptian court on Sunday sentenced Mahmoud Ezzat, the 76-year-old top leader of the banned Muslim Brotherhood, to life in prison in the case publicly known as the “Storming of Egyptian Eastern Borders.”

The Cairo Criminal Court sentenced Ezzat, the acting supreme guide of the Muslim Brotherhood, to life for storming Egyptian prisons, attacking security and police facilities and killing officers during the January 25, 2011 revolution.

According to the indictment, the convicts killed 32 prison guards in Abu Zaabal prison, 14 prisoners in Wadi al-Natrun prison, and a prisoner in al-Marj prison and released around 20,000 prisoners. They were also accused of abducting three border guards and forcibly taking them to the Gaza Strip.

The prosecution accused Ezzat and other Brotherhood members of collaborating with the Palestinian Hamas movement, Muslim Brotherhood’s international leadership, Lebanese Hezbollah, and some extremists from Sinai Bedouins to commit acts that undermine Egypt’s independence, unity and territorial integrity.

They are also accused of training elements from Iran’s Revolutionary Guards Corps to commit hostile and military acts in the country, storm buildings and prisons and smuggle prisoners loyal to them, including foreigners and Egyptians, as well as criminals. They provided them with support, information, money and false identity cards to enter the country, in addition to means of transportation to commit the crimes.

A life sentence in Egypt is 25 years in jail.

In 2015, Ezzat was handed a death sentence in absentia, as well as given life imprisonment, after being found guilty of planning the assassination of soldiers and government officials.

Ezzat was arrested in Cairo in August 2020 after being on the run for several years.

He was found guilty of “incitement to murder” and of having “supplied weapons” during clashes between demonstrators outside the headquarters of the Muslim Brotherhood in 2013.

In December 2021, Ezzat was sentenced to life for espionage with several foreign organizations and parties, including Hamas, the Revolutionary Guards Corps and Hezbollah and disclosure of national security information.

The Brotherhood was blacklisted in 2013 and deemed a terrorist group.

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Arab World

Syria Imposes Night Curfew on Port City of Latakia

People watch as Syrian Security forces are deployed after clashes erupted during a protest in the city of Latakia, Syria, 28 December 2025. EPA/AHMAD FALLAHA
People watch as Syrian Security forces are deployed after clashes erupted during a protest in the city of Latakia, Syria, 28 December 2025. EPA/AHMAD FALLAHA
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Syria Imposes Night Curfew on Port City of Latakia

People watch as Syrian Security forces are deployed after clashes erupted during a protest in the city of Latakia, Syria, 28 December 2025. EPA/AHMAD FALLAHA
People watch as Syrian Security forces are deployed after clashes erupted during a protest in the city of Latakia, Syria, 28 December 2025. EPA/AHMAD FALLAHA

Syrian authorities imposed an overnight curfew in the coastal city of Latakia on Tuesday.

Authorities announced a "curfew in Latakia city, effective from 5:00pm (1400 GMT) on Tuesday, December 30, 2025, until 6:00am (0300 GMT) on Wednesday, December 31, 2025".

Arab World

Jailed Turkish Kurd Leader Calls on Government to Broker Deal for Syrian Kurds

(FILES) Supporters display a poster depicting jailed leader of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) Abdullah Ocalan, after he called on the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) to disarm and dissolve itself in Diyarbakir, southeastern Türkiye, on February 27, 2025. (Photo by Yasin AKGUL / AFP)
(FILES) Supporters display a poster depicting jailed leader of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) Abdullah Ocalan, after he called on the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) to disarm and dissolve itself in Diyarbakir, southeastern Türkiye, on February 27, 2025. (Photo by Yasin AKGUL / AFP)
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Jailed Turkish Kurd Leader Calls on Government to Broker Deal for Syrian Kurds

(FILES) Supporters display a poster depicting jailed leader of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) Abdullah Ocalan, after he called on the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) to disarm and dissolve itself in Diyarbakir, southeastern Türkiye, on February 27, 2025. (Photo by Yasin AKGUL / AFP)
(FILES) Supporters display a poster depicting jailed leader of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) Abdullah Ocalan, after he called on the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) to disarm and dissolve itself in Diyarbakir, southeastern Türkiye, on February 27, 2025. (Photo by Yasin AKGUL / AFP)

Jailed Turkish Kurd leader Abdullah Ocalan said Tuesday that it was "crucial" for Türkiye’s government to broker a peace deal between the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) and the Damascus government.

Clashes between Syrian forces and the SDF have cast doubt over a deal to integrate the group's fighters into the army, which was due to take effect by the end of the year, reported AFP.

Ocalan, founder of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) group, called on Türkiye to help ensure implementation of the deal announced in March between the SDF and the Syrian government.

"It is essential for Türkiye to play a role of facilitator, constructively and aimed at dialogue," he said in a message released by Türkiye's pro-Kurdish DEM party.

"This is crucial for both regional peace and to strengthen its own internal peace," Ocalan, who has been jailed for 26 years, added.

"The fundamental demand made in the agreement signed on March 10 between the SDF and the government in Damascus is for a democratic political model permitting (Syria's) peoples to govern together," he added.

"This approach also includes the principle of democratic integration, negotiable with the central authorities. The implementation of the March 10 agreement will facilitate and accelerate that process."

The backbone of the US-backed SDF is the YPG, a Kurdish group seen by Türkiye as an extension of the PKK.

Türkiye and Syria both face long-running unrest in their Kurdish-majority regions, which span their shared border.

In Türkiye, the PKK agreed this year at Ocalan's urging to end its four-decade armed struggle.

In Syria, Sharaa has agreed to merge the Kurds' semi-autonomous administration into the central government, but deadly clashes and a series of differences have held up implementation of the deal.

The SDF is calling for a decentralized government, which Sharaa rejects.

Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan, whose country sees Kurdish fighters across the border as a threat, urged the SDF last week not to be an "obstacle" to stability.

Syrian Kurdish leader Mazloum Abdi said Thursday that "all efforts" were being made to prevent the collapse of talks.

Arab World

Yemen's PLC Imposes No Fly-Zone, Sea and Ground Blockade on All Ports and Crossings

Chairman of Yemen's Presidential Leadership Council Dr. Rashad al-Alimi. (Saba)
Chairman of Yemen's Presidential Leadership Council Dr. Rashad al-Alimi. (Saba)
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Yemen's PLC Imposes No Fly-Zone, Sea and Ground Blockade on All Ports and Crossings

Chairman of Yemen's Presidential Leadership Council Dr. Rashad al-Alimi. (Saba)
Chairman of Yemen's Presidential Leadership Council Dr. Rashad al-Alimi. (Saba)

Chairman of Yemen's Presidential Leadership Council Dr. Rashad al-Alimi declared on Tuesday a state of emergency throughout the country in wake of the "internal strife caused by the military rebellion in eastern provinces aimed at dividing the republic."

He called for all military formations and forces in the Hadhramaut and Al-Mahra governorates to coordinate completely with the Coalition to Restore Legitimacy in Yemen, represented by Saudi Arabia, and to immediately return to their original positions without a fight. They should cede their positions in the two governorates to the National Shield forces.

Al-Alimi said the state of emergency will last 90 days, which can be extended. He also imposed a no fly-zone, sea and ground blockade on all ports and crossings for 72 hours.

The move also stems from "the commitment to the unity of Yemen, its sovereignty, independence, and territorial integrity and the need to confront the Houthi coup that has been ongoing since 2014," he stressed.

Moreover, al-Alimi called on "all United Arab Emirates forces to leave the country within 24 hours."

"We will firmly deal with any rebellion against state institutions," he warned.

He called on the Southern Transitional Council to "return to reason and quickly and unconditionally withdraw its forces from Hadhramaut and Al-Mahra."

Al-Alimi announced the state of emergency shortly after the Saudi-led Arab coalition carried out a "limited" airstrike targeting a military shipment that had arrived in Yemen's Al-Mukalla port.

In a statement, coalition spokesman Major General Turki al-Malki said the forces detected on Saturday and Sunday the arrival of two vessels from the Port of Fujairah to Mukalla without obtaining any permits from the Joint Forces Command.

Saudi Arabia expressed on Tuesday its disappointment in the United Arab Emirates for pressuring the STC to carry out military operations on the Kingdom's southern borders in Hadhramaut and Al-Mahra.

A Saudi Foreign Ministry statement said: "The steps taken by the UAE are considered highly dangerous, inconsistent with the principles upon which the Coalition to Restore Legitimacy in Yemen was established, and do not serve the coalition's purpose of achieving security and stability for Yemen."

"The Kingdom stresses that any threat to its national security is a red line, and the Kingdom will not hesitate to take all necessary steps and measures to confront and neutralize any such threat," it declared.