عربي English Türkçe اردو فارسى
Logo
Latest News
World

US Activist Killed by Israeli Fire Gets Buried as Israel Strikes Gaza

Israeli soldiers in Gaza / The AP
Israeli soldiers in Gaza / The AP
TT
20
TT

US Activist Killed by Israeli Fire Gets Buried as Israel Strikes Gaza

Israeli soldiers in Gaza / The AP
Israeli soldiers in Gaza / The AP

Israeli airstrikes hit central and southern Gaza overnight into Saturday, killing at least 14 people as friends and family members of a Turkish-American activist killed by an Israeli soldier honored her in a funeral.

In Türkiye, activist Aysenur Ezgi Eygi, the 26-year-old from Seattle who held US and Turkish citizenships, was laid to rest in her hometown in the town of Didim on the Aegean Sea.

The Israeli military has said that Eygi was likely shot “indirectly and unintentionally” by Israeli forces in the occupied West Bank on Sept. 6. Türkiye announced it will conduct its own investigation into her death. An Israeli protester who witnessed the shooting said she was killed after a demonstration against Israeli settlements, The AP reported.

“We are not going to leave our daughter’s blood on the ground and we demand responsibility and accountability for this murder,” Numan Kurtulus, the speaker of Türkiye's parliament, told mourners.

Eygi's body had been earlier brought from a hospital to her family home and Didim's Central Mosque. Thousands of people bid her farewell in the town's streets, which were lined with Turkish flags.

Her death was condemned by US Secretary of State Antony Blinken as the United States, Egypt and Qatar push for a ceasefire and the release of the remaining hostages held by Hamas. Talks have repeatedly bogged down as Israel and Hamas accuse each other of making new and unacceptable demands.

This came as airstrikes in Gaza City hit one home housing 11 people, including three women and four children, and another strike hit a tent in Khan Younis with Palestinians displaced by the Israel-Hamas war, Gaza's Civil Defense said Saturday. They followed airstrikes earlier this week that hit a tent camp on Tuesday and a United Nations school sheltering displaced on Wednesday.

The war has caused vast destruction and displaced around 90% of Gaza’s population of 2.3 million, often multiple times, and plunged the territory into a severe humanitarian crisis. Gaza’s Health Ministry says over 41,000 Palestinians have been killed since the war began.

Most Viewed

 
World

French Far-Right Leader Marine Le Pen Is Barred from Seeking Public Office for Embezzlement

President of the parliamentary group of the French far-right Rassemblement National (RN) party, Marine Le Pen arrives at the Paris courthouse for her trial verdict on suspicion of embezzlement of European public funds, in Paris, on March 31, 2025. (AFP)
President of the parliamentary group of the French far-right Rassemblement National (RN) party, Marine Le Pen arrives at the Paris courthouse for her trial verdict on suspicion of embezzlement of European public funds, in Paris, on March 31, 2025. (AFP)
TT
20
TT

French Far-Right Leader Marine Le Pen Is Barred from Seeking Public Office for Embezzlement

President of the parliamentary group of the French far-right Rassemblement National (RN) party, Marine Le Pen arrives at the Paris courthouse for her trial verdict on suspicion of embezzlement of European public funds, in Paris, on March 31, 2025. (AFP)
President of the parliamentary group of the French far-right Rassemblement National (RN) party, Marine Le Pen arrives at the Paris courthouse for her trial verdict on suspicion of embezzlement of European public funds, in Paris, on March 31, 2025. (AFP)

French far-right leader Marine Le Pen strode out of a French court as the chief judge on Monday barred her from seeking public office after she was found guilty of embezzling EU funds.

The judge hasn’t yet said how long Le Pen will be ineligible for running for public office — a decision that could derail the far-right leader's career and infuriate her millions of supporters.

Le Pen didn’t wait around to find out. In a moment of high drama, the politician picked up her bag, slung it over her arm and strode briskly out of the courtroom, her heels click-click-clicking on the hardwood floor, leaving disbelief in her wake.

The chief judge looked up at Le Pen but carried on reading out the sentence.

Le Pen left the high-rise Paris courthouse without stopping to speak to reporters and climbed into a car that drove her away.

Earlier Monday, from the front row of the court, Le Pen showed no immediate reaction when the judge declared her guilty. But she grew more agitated as the proceedings continued. She repeatedly nodded her head in disagreement as the judge went into greater detail with the verdict, saying Le Pen’s party had illegally used European Parliament money for its own benefit. “Incredible,” she whispered at one point.

The judge also handed down guilty verdicts to eight other current or former members of her party who, like her, previously served as European Parliament lawmakers.

Le Pen and her co-defendants face up to 10 years in prison. They can appeal, which would lead to another trial.

‘A political death’ scenario  

The sentence, even if she appeals, could prevent her from running for president in 2027. She has described such scenario as a “political death.”

The verdict was shaping up as a resounding defeat for Le Pen and her party. As well as finding her and eight other former European lawmakers guilty of embezzling public funds, the court also convicted 12 other people who served as parliamentary aides for Le Pen and what is now the National Rally party, formerly the National Front.

The judge said Le Pen had been at the heart of “a system” that her party used to siphon off EU parliament money. The judge said Le Pen and other co-defendants didn't enrich themselves personally. But the ruling described the embezzlement as “a democratic bypass" that deceived the parliament and voters.

Le Pen and 24 other officials from the National Rally were accused of having used money intended for EU parliamentary aides to pay staff who worked for the party between 2004 and 2016, in violation of the 27-nation bloc’s regulations. Le Pen and her co-defendants denied wrongdoing.

Le Pen has enjoyed growing support  

Le Pen, 56, was runner-up to President Emmanuel Macron in the 2017 and 2022 presidential elections, and her party’s electoral support has grown in recent years.

During the nine-week trial that took place in late 2024, she argued that ineligibility “would have the effect of depriving me of being a presidential candidate" and disenfranchise her supporters.

“There are 11 million people who voted for the movement I represent. So tomorrow, potentially, millions and millions of French people would see themselves deprived of their candidate in the election,” she told the panel of three judges.

If Le Pen cannot run in 2027, her seeming natural successor would be Jordan Bardella, Le Pen’s 29-year-old protégé who succeeded her at the helm of the party in 2021.

Le Pen denied accusations she was at the head of the system meant to siphon off EU parliament money to benefit her party, which she led from 2011 to 2021. She argued instead that it was acceptable to adapt the work of the aides paid by the European Parliament to the needs of the lawmakers, including some political work related to the party.

Hearings showed that some EU money was used to pay for Le Pen’s bodyguard — who was once her father's bodyguard — as well as her personal assistant.

Prosecutors requested a two-year prison sentence and a five-year period of ineligibility for Le Pen.

Le Pen said she felt they were “only interested” in preventing her from running for president.