Arrests in Morocco over Links to Barcelona Attackers

Policemen and medical staff stand at the site where Moroccan suspect Younes Abouyaaqoub was shot on August 21, 2017 near Sant Sadurni d'Anoia, south of Barcelona. AFP PHOTO / LLUIS GENELLUIS GENE
Policemen and medical staff stand at the site where Moroccan suspect Younes Abouyaaqoub was shot on August 21, 2017 near Sant Sadurni d'Anoia, south of Barcelona. AFP PHOTO / LLUIS GENELLUIS GENE
TT

Arrests in Morocco over Links to Barcelona Attackers

Policemen and medical staff stand at the site where Moroccan suspect Younes Abouyaaqoub was shot on August 21, 2017 near Sant Sadurni d'Anoia, south of Barcelona. AFP PHOTO / LLUIS GENELLUIS GENE
Policemen and medical staff stand at the site where Moroccan suspect Younes Abouyaaqoub was shot on August 21, 2017 near Sant Sadurni d'Anoia, south of Barcelona. AFP PHOTO / LLUIS GENELLUIS GENE

Moroccan authorities have arrested two people suspected of links to the alleged perpetrators of the terrorist attack in the Spanish city of Barcelona as police in Morocco and Spain continued to coordinate in the probe into the assault that shook the country last week.

The two suspects have been detained in the cities of Nador and Oujda in northeastern Morocco, amid reports that police are searching for a third suspect in Casablanca.

The man detained in the city of Nador is a 28-year-old with suspected ties to one of the members of
the cell of young Moroccans behind the Barcelona attack.

He was a resident of Ripoll, the small town in northeastern Spain where many members of the cell were living.

The second detainee, 34, lived for 12 years in Barcelona and is suspected of links to ISIS and of plotting to attack the Spanish embassy in Rabat.

Both suspects were arrested on Sunday.

On Monday Spanish police shot dead 22-year-old Moroccan Younes Abouyaaqoub, whom they had identified as the driver of the van that ploughed through crowds on Las Ramblas boulevard in Barcelona last Thursday, killing 13 people and injuring 120.

ISIS claimed responsibility for the van attack and a separate deadly assault, hours later, in the coastal resort of Cambrils, south of Barcelona.

Moroccan security forces have gone on alert since the attacks in Spain and Finland this month after Moroccan immigrants were involved in both assaults.



EU Condemns Israel's West Bank Control Measures

The Israeli settlement of Har Homa, seen from the West Bank city of Bethlehem, Tuesday, Dec. 17, 2024. (AP)
The Israeli settlement of Har Homa, seen from the West Bank city of Bethlehem, Tuesday, Dec. 17, 2024. (AP)
TT

EU Condemns Israel's West Bank Control Measures

The Israeli settlement of Har Homa, seen from the West Bank city of Bethlehem, Tuesday, Dec. 17, 2024. (AP)
The Israeli settlement of Har Homa, seen from the West Bank city of Bethlehem, Tuesday, Dec. 17, 2024. (AP)

The European Union on Monday condemned new Israeli measures to tighten control of the West Bank and pave the way for more settlements in the occupied Palestinian territory, AFP reported.

"The European Union condemns recent decisions by Israel's security cabinet to expand Israeli control in the West Bank. This move is another step in the wrong direction," EU spokesman Anouar El Anouni told journalists.


Atrocities in Sudan's El-Fasher Were 'Preventable Human Rights Catastrophe'

Sudanese displaced people who left El Fasher after its fall, sit in the shade in Tawila at the Rwanda camp reception point on December 17, 2025. (Photo by AFP)
Sudanese displaced people who left El Fasher after its fall, sit in the shade in Tawila at the Rwanda camp reception point on December 17, 2025. (Photo by AFP)
TT

Atrocities in Sudan's El-Fasher Were 'Preventable Human Rights Catastrophe'

Sudanese displaced people who left El Fasher after its fall, sit in the shade in Tawila at the Rwanda camp reception point on December 17, 2025. (Photo by AFP)
Sudanese displaced people who left El Fasher after its fall, sit in the shade in Tawila at the Rwanda camp reception point on December 17, 2025. (Photo by AFP)

The atrocities unleashed on El-Fasher in Sudan's Darfur region last October were a "preventable human rights catastrophe", the United Nations said Monday, warning they now risked being repeated in the neighbouring Kordofan region.

 

"My office sounded the alarm about the risk of mass atrocities in the besieged city of El-Fasher for more than a year ... but our warnings were ignored," UN rights chief Volker Turk told the Human Rights Council in Geneva.

 

He added that he was now "extremely concerned that these violations and abuses may be repeated in the Kordofan region".

 

 

 

 


Arab League Condemns Israel's Decisions to Alter Legal, Administrative Status of West Bank

A general view shows the opening session of the meeting of Arab foreign ministers at the Arab League Headquarters (Reuters)
A general view shows the opening session of the meeting of Arab foreign ministers at the Arab League Headquarters (Reuters)
TT

Arab League Condemns Israel's Decisions to Alter Legal, Administrative Status of West Bank

A general view shows the opening session of the meeting of Arab foreign ministers at the Arab League Headquarters (Reuters)
A general view shows the opening session of the meeting of Arab foreign ministers at the Arab League Headquarters (Reuters)

The General Secretariat of the Arab League strongly condemned decisions by Israeli occupation authorities to impose fundamental changes on the legal and administrative status of the occupied Palestinian territories, particularly in the West Bank, describing them as a dangerous escalation and a flagrant violation of international law, international legitimacy resolutions, and signed agreements, SPA reported.

In a statement, the Arab League said the measures include facilitating the confiscation of private Palestinian property and transferring planning and licensing authorities in the city of Hebron and the area surrounding the Ibrahimi Mosque to occupation authorities.

It warned of the serious repercussions of these actions on the rights of the Palestinian people and on Islamic and Christian holy sites.

The statement reaffirmed the Arab League’s firm support for the legitimate rights of the Palestinian people, foremost among them the establishment of their independent state on the June 4, 1967 borders, with East Jerusalem as its capital.