Algeria Sentences MAK Leader to 20 Years in Prison

Leader of Kabylia Self-Determination Movement (MAK), Ferhat Mehenni
Leader of Kabylia Self-Determination Movement (MAK), Ferhat Mehenni
TT

Algeria Sentences MAK Leader to 20 Years in Prison

Leader of Kabylia Self-Determination Movement (MAK), Ferhat Mehenni
Leader of Kabylia Self-Determination Movement (MAK), Ferhat Mehenni

A criminal court in the Algerian capital on Wednesday sentenced in absentia the leader of Kabylia Self-Determination Movement (MAK), Ferhat Mehenni, and six other people to 20 years in prison on charges of “committing terrorist and subversive acts targeting the security of the state and national unity.”
The rulings included 20 other defendants, who stood before the judges and were questioned about their crimes.
The court sought penalties for the group of defendants ranging from three to 10 years. They were accused of trading “considerable quantities of weapons and spreading ideas that target the security of the state.”
Algeria has a “strict” criminal law in penalties against defendants classified as “fugitives.”
Four other defendants in the case were acquitted for lack of evidence.
Founded 20 years ago, MAK is a group advocating for self-determination for Algeria's Amazigh Kabylia region, in the east of the country.
In his defense, a representative of the public prosecutor accused the defendants of participating in organizations and groups engaged in terrorist and subversive activities.
He said they “used information and communication technologies to recruit people for the benefit of a terrorist organization”.
The court representative also accused them of receiving funds from foreign parties to conduct acts targeting the security of the state and of “plotting with the Zionist entity.”
In return, the defense team has denied all the charges and said there is a lack of evidence against the defendants. The team demanded that the court brings the weapons and ammunition that security services claim they had seized.
In May 2021, the Algerian regime designated MAK a “terrorist group”.
Mehenni, 72, and the six other defendants live in France, where they benefit from a political asylum status.
In 2021, the Algerian judiciary issued an international arrest warrant for the MAK leader and accused him of being involved in the significant wildfires that affected the country and several other cases.
Mehenni, a famous singer, founded the movement in 2001 following bloody clashes between Algerian security forces and residents from the Kbaylia region after a young man was killed by a police officer.
The clashes left 170 dead and tens of injuries.
In video footage that was shared online, Mehenni denied all the accusations made against him.
In 2010, the movement declared the establishment of a temporary government led by Mehenni for the Kabylia region in Paris.

 

 



Israel Wipes Out 29 Lebanese Border Towns

This handout satellite picture provided by Planet Labs PBC and dated October 24, 2024 shows a view of the village of the southern Lebanese village of Mais al-Jabal on the border with Israel, amid the ongoing war between Hezbollah and Israel. (Photo by Planet Labs PBC / AFP)
This handout satellite picture provided by Planet Labs PBC and dated October 24, 2024 shows a view of the village of the southern Lebanese village of Mais al-Jabal on the border with Israel, amid the ongoing war between Hezbollah and Israel. (Photo by Planet Labs PBC / AFP)
TT

Israel Wipes Out 29 Lebanese Border Towns

This handout satellite picture provided by Planet Labs PBC and dated October 24, 2024 shows a view of the village of the southern Lebanese village of Mais al-Jabal on the border with Israel, amid the ongoing war between Hezbollah and Israel. (Photo by Planet Labs PBC / AFP)
This handout satellite picture provided by Planet Labs PBC and dated October 24, 2024 shows a view of the village of the southern Lebanese village of Mais al-Jabal on the border with Israel, amid the ongoing war between Hezbollah and Israel. (Photo by Planet Labs PBC / AFP)

Some 29 Lebanese border villages have been “completely destroyed” by Israel, revealed Mohamed Chamseddine, policy research specialist at Information International.

Vidoes have been circulating on social media of dozens of houses in a Lebanese border village being detonated simultaneously by the Israeli army. Israel has been adopting this scorched earth policy since October in an attempt to set up a buffer zone along the border.

In one video, soldiers can be heard chanting a countdown before the detonation of several houses followed by celebrations.

Chamseddine told Asharq Al-Awsat that Israel has destroyed 29 villages dotted across 120 kms from the Naqoura area in the west to Shebaa in the east.

The villages of Aita al-Shaab, Kfar Kila, Adeisseh, Houla, Dhayra, Marwahin, Mhaibib, and al-Khiam have been completely destroyed along with some 25,000 houses, he added.

Last month, the detonations in Adeisseh and Deir Seryan were so powerful that they caused tremors that were initially mistaken for earthquakes.

Experts are in agreement that Israel is completely wiping out villages and all signs of life, including trees, to turn the area into a buffer zone so that residents of northern Israel can return to their homes.

They also believe that the scorched earth policy means that residents of the South won’t be able to rebuild and replant what they lost once a ceasefire is reached and they can return home.

Brig. Gen. Hassan Jouni, former deputy chief of staff of operations in the Lebanese Armed Forces, said Israel wants to be create a 3 km-deep buffer zone along its border with Lebanon.

Israel is destroying everything in that area, leaving it exposed so that any possible threat there can be easily spotted, he told Asharq Al-Awsat.

However, he remarked that Israel is not keeping its forces deployed in the South, so it won’t be able to hold any territory and keep these areas destroyed. Any political agreement will inevitably call for the return of Lebanese residents back to their villages where they will rebuild their homes, he explained.

The Lebanese state will in no way agree for the border strip to remain uninhabited and destroyed, Jouni stressed.

“In all likelihood, Israel already knows this, and its actions are part of a psychological war to punish the residents of those villages and towns because they are Hezbollah’s popular support base. Israel wants to drive a wedge between the people and Hezbollah. It is as if it is saying: ‘See how the party was unable to protect your homes,’” he went on to say.

Moreover, Jouni said Israel is mistaken if it believes that a buffer zone will restore security to its northern settlements because those areas can be targeted from beyond the border region.

So, what is taking place on the ground is in effect Israel just going to the extreme in violating international law, he added. “Its claims that it is targeting weapons and ammunition caches do not fool anyone because from a military standpoint, these caches are not stored along the border, but deeper in a country.”