Former Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan and his wife Bushra Khan were sentenced to seven years in prison and fined on Saturday by a court that ruled their 2018 marriage broke the law, his party said. It was the third ruling against Khan this week and comes ahead of national elections on Thursday that he is barred from contesting. Khan, 71, has in recent days been sentenced to 10 years for leaking state secrets and 14 years along with this wife for illegally selling state gifts. His representatives say he will launch appeals in all three cases.It was not immediately clear if his various sentences would run concurrently.   Khan is in prison in the garrison city of Rawalpindi, while his wife will serve her sentence at their hilltop mansion in nearby Islamabad. He already faces a 10-year disqualification from holding public office. "After hours of rushed hearings at court, no cross examination of witnesses, and no due process - a mockery of the law," Khan's party, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), said in a statement. "With the way these trials are being conducted, there will be a huge question mark on the February 8th elections. This is a test case for Pakistan's higher judiciary." The couple were each fined 500,000 rupees ($1,800), ARY News reported. Bushra was accused of not completing the waiting period mandated by Islam, called "Iddat", after divorcing her previous husband and marrying Khan. The Khans signed their marriage contract, or "Nikkah", in January 2018 in a secret ceremony seven months before the former cricket superstar became prime minister for the first time.There was controversy over whether they had wed before the period was complete. After initial denials of the marriage, PTI confirmed it weeks later.The Khans both denied wrongdoing. "Can say I’m a witness in the Nikkah and it’s a categorically yet another fake case," Khan's media advisor Zulfi Bukhari told Reuters. "From witnesses to the evidence to the procedure."   CRIMINAL COMPLAINT Bushra's ex-husband, Khawar Maneka, to whom she was married for about 30 years, brought a criminal complaint against the Khans, said a person with direct knowledge of the matter.Khan has often called Bushra his spiritual leader. She is known for her devotion to Sufism, a mystical form of Islam. Born Bushra Riaz Watto, she changed her name to Khan after her marriage. Her husband and followers commonly refer to her as Bushra Bibi or Bushra Begum, titles that denote respect in Urdu.It was not clear when or how Khan met Bushra, but former aide Aun Chaudhry said Khan was impressed with her spirituality.   Khan, who had acquired a playboy image in the 1990s as his cricket career took off, has said he is keenly interested in Sufism.Khan's two previous marriages - to Jemima Goldsmith, daughter of tycoon James Goldsmith, and television journalist Reham Nayyar Khan - ended in divorce. Khan has been fighting dozens of cases since he was ousted from power in a parliamentary vote of no-confidence in 2022. He says his removal was backed by the powerful military with whom he fell out while in office.He and his party say they have been subjected to a military-backed crackdown, including arrests of hundreds of supporters, party members and key aides.   The military, which has for decades held sway over Pakistan's politics, denies the claims. NAB, the anti-graft agency that put Khan on trial, has at various times investigated, tried and jailed all prime ministers to have served since 2008, including Nawaz Sharif, whose party is considered the frontrunner in next week's election.  

Niloufar Hamedi and Elaheh Mohammadi were among the first reporters to cover Jina Mahsa Amini's death in September 2022. They were both charged with colluding with the US government among other things last year. Two Iranian journalists who were serving long prison sentences for their coverage of the death of Jina Mahsa Amini have been released on bail pending their appeal, Iranian media reported Sunday. The two journalists, Niloufar Hamedi and Elaheh Mohammadi, were among the first to report on Amini's death in police custody following her incarceration for supposedly wearing her headscarf improperly.  The young Kurdish woman's death prompted widespread protests throughout the country — typically involving young women demonstrably uncovering their hair in public — and subsequently a crackdown from authorities in Tehran. The two journalists were greeted by relatives and supporters upon their release from custody on Sunday. However, they have since been charged with not wearing the mandatory hijab in photos taken after their release that were widely shared on social media. "After footage of the defendants without hijab was released online, a new case has been filed against them," the Iranian judiciary’s Mizan news portal said on Monday. Bail for the pair combined equates to around a century's salary for average earner in Iran The two journalists were charged last year by a court in Iran for collaborating with the US government among other things. They were sentenced to up to seven years in prison, the judiciary news ageny Mizan had reported. Hamedi wrote for the daily newspaper Shargh and Mohammadi covered social issues and gender equality for the newspaper Ham-Mihan. They were jointly awarded UNESCO's world press freedom prize in May of 2023. The bail was set at roughly $200,000 (around €180,000) and their release is pending their appeal hearing. They were forbidden from leaving the country before trial. $200,000 equates to about 50 years' salary for a person earning Iran's estimated GDP per capita of around $4,000 per annum. Some 100 journalists were also arrested amid the demonstrations that spread across the country following Amini's death, as Iran sought to repress information on them at home and abroad. Thousands still detained over protests against Amini's death Amini's death on September 16, 2022, after being detained by the country's morality police for allegedly not wearing the hijab headscarf properly, sparked widespread outrage in the country. Mass wave of protests swept the country, posing one of the most serious challenges to Iran's theocratic establishment since the Iranian Revolution in 1979. Iranian forces heavily cracked down on protesters, detaining thousands of people, from university professors to bereaved family members of those killed during the very demonstrations. Iran has not offered any casualty figures but acknowledged thousands of detentions. Human rights groups in Iran say at least 529 peole were killed in Iran and more than 19,000 detained during the crackdown on the 2022 and 2023 protests.

Poland's former Interior Minister Mariusz Kaminski has announced he's going on hunger strike, a day after his dramatic arrest inside the presidential palace. He says the case against him is politically motivated. Polish former Interior Minister Mariusz Kaminski said on Wednesday that he would be starting a hunger strike in prison, a day after he was arrested despite having taken refuge with political ally and President Andrzej Duda in the presidential palace in Warsaw.  Kaminski is a senior politician with Poland's largest political party, PiS, which lost control of government in recent elections but still holds the presidency.  "I declare that I treat my conviction... as an act of political revenge," Kaminski said in the statement, read by his former deputy, Blazej Pobozy, at a press conference. "As a political prisoner, I started a hunger strike from the first day of my imprisonment." "As the one who was elected by 10.5 million Poles, I appeal for calm," Duda said. "It is allowed to gather and participate in demonstrations in Poland, but I ask that they be dignified and peaceful."    Power struggle between old government and new, spanning decades The charges against Kaminski and his former state secretary, Maceij Wasik, who was also arrested on Tuesday, date back to 2007. They also reflect the highly antagonistic relationship, even by the standards of robust democratic opposition, between the two largest political factions in Poland for many years. The last time his PiS party lost power, Kaminski was accused and convicted of abuse of power while in office by the next government.  But in 2015, as the scales swung back in PiS's favor at the polls, President Andrzej Duda pardoned them. Kaminski returned as a member of the Sejm parliament and as a minister without portfolio with PiS. Critics argued this pardon was invalid, as it came before the politicians had exhausted their normal avenues for appeal. Last June, Poland's Supreme Court declared that their pardons had been invalid.  Since narrowly winning October's parliamentary elections and regaining control of parliament — but not the president's office — the coalition around Prime Minister Donald Tusk had sought to reinstigate their prosecution and detention.  Duda, who argues his pardon for them remains valid, invited them into the presidential palace in an apparent bid to shield them from police planning to act on an arrest warrant. Ultimately this did not work and the men were cuffed inside the building, amplifying the existing tensions between the old and new governments. Tusk accused Duda of obstructing justice by harboring fugitives. The arrest led to protests in Warsaw, including outside the presidential palace and the police precinct that was holding the politicians.    January 10 already a noteworthy day for PiS leaders, supporters Supporters of PiS were set to be on the streets on Wednesday anyway by coincidence. January 10 is the anniversary of the 2010 Smolensk air disaster in which Poland's then-President Lech Kaczynski was killed. Kaczynski's twin brother, Jaroslaw, no longer holds senior public office but still heads the PiS party and is still seen as its driving force. He laid a wreath at a Warsaw memorial service on Wednesday. Kaczynski and PiS are among those promoting the notion that the crash was no simple accident caused by unsafe flying, as both Russian and Polish investigators formally concluded at the time. He has also accused the Polish government of the time, which was led by Tusk's Civic Coalition, of helping cover up any potential Russian complicity.

A court convicted and sentenced former managing director (MD) of the then NRB Global Bank and Reliance Finance, Proshanta Kumar Halder alias PK Halder to 22-year jail in a case on Saturday, October 08.   The court also convicted and sentenced other 13 accused in the case to seven years of jail each in the case.  Abantika Boral, Shonkho Bepari, Sukumar Mridha and Anindita Mridha were present at the court today.   According to BSS,  Judge Mohammad Nazrul Islam of Dhaka Special Judge Court-10 pronounced the judgment, sentencing Halder to 10-year jail under section 27 (1) of the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) Act and 12-year jail in Money Laundering Prevention Act.   The court in its judgment said the two sentences of jail will run separately.

Regent Group Chairman Mohammad Shahed Mohammad Shahed has been jailed for 3 years in a case filed by the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) for illegal wealth. Judge Pradeep Kumar Roy of Dhaka's Special Judge Court-7 announced the verdict on Monday, August 21. The court also fined him Tk 1 lakh and ordered to deposit the money to the government treasury within the next 60 working days. On March 1, 2021, Deputy Director of the Anti-Corruption Commission Farid Ahmed Patwary filed the case against Shahed with its Dhaka Integrated Office-1 for his alleged involvement in acquiring illegal wealth. The Anti-Corruption Commission submitted a chargesheet against Shahed on February 2, 2022. Later, the court framed charges against him on April 17 last year. On July 15, 2020, he was arrested from the border area of Satkhira by RAB. Shahed has been in jail since then. On September 28, 2020, the court sentenced him to life imprisonment in an arms case.

A New Zealand man who endured a 19-year imprisonment due to a wrongful conviction is slated to receive an unprecedented compensation of nearly NZ$5 million (approximately $3 million, or €2.76 million), as confirmed by the government on Friday. In 1986, Alan Hall was found guilty of the murder of Arthur Easton and the intentional injury of Arthur's son, Brendon Easton. He was given a life sentence, but his conviction was overturned in 2022. In light of the miscarriage of justice, the government has committed to a compensation sum of NZ$4,933,725, as redress for the years Hall spent unjustly incarcerated, New Zealand's acting Justice Minister, Deborah Russell said. How did Hall end up in prison? There was no forensic evidence connecting Hall to the location, and the perpetrator was reported to possess different characteristics in terms of height and ethnicity. Despite this, Hall was convicted. After serving a portion of his sentence, Hall was granted parole in 1994. In 2012, he was reincarcerated due to violations of his parole terms. He was finally released and exonerated last year. "The government acknowledges Mr. Hall's innocence and offers an unreserved apology for the erroneous convictions and wrongful imprisonment he endured," Russell said.  How did Hall end up in prison? "While I recognize that the apology and compensation cannot entirely rectify the profound injustice Mr. Hall suffered, my hope is that they will serve as a measure to aid Mr. Hall in reconstructing his life and facilitate his pursuit of personal aspirations," she added. Hall family releases statement In a released statement, the Hall family expressed the significance of the government's recognition of Alan Hall's innocence. They highlighted the dedicated efforts of Alan's mother, Shirley, who fought for years to clear his name.  "Alan's mother Shirley, his greatest champion, fought for decades to hear those words. That she is not present today to hear them finally spoken makes this moment bittersweet," the family said. Hall's family said they were relieved the fight to clear his name was over. "Alan was 24 when he was arrested. He is now 61. With the announcement today, Alan can now focus on what was denied to him for decades, building his life as a free man." The Hall family further extended their acknowledgment to the Easton family and expressed hope that ongoing investigations will ultimately unearth the truth regarding Arthur's death, holding the accountable parties responsible for their actions.

A Dhaka court sentenced expelled Jubo League leader Golam Kibria Shamim alias GK Shamim 10 years imprisonment in a case over money laundering on Monday.  The court also sentenced seven of his bodyguards to four years jail each for assisting GK Shamim in acquiring the laundered money. They are Md Delwar Hossain, Md Morad Hossain, Md Jahidul Islam, Md Shahidul Islam, Md Kamal Hossain, Md Samsad Hossain and Md Anisul Islam. The investigating officer of the case CID's Senior Assistant Superintendent of Police Abu Sayeed submitted chargesheet against the accused on August 4 of 2020. On November 10 of the same year, the same court framed charges against GK Shamim and his seven bodyguards in the case.

Government critic Ousmane Sonko was acquitted of rape charges but found guilty of "corrupting youth." His trial has triggered street protests that left nine people dead. Nine people were killed in the protests that erupted following the sentencing of Senegalese opposition leader Ousmane Sonko, authorities said early on Friday.  Interior Minister Antoine Felix Abdoulaye Diome made this announcement on state television, adding that the deaths happened in Dakar and Ziguinchor. A Senegalese court sentenced on Thursday sentenced former presidential candidate Ousmane Sonko to two years in prison over "corrupting youth," but acquitted him of rape charges. Sonko, who is particularly popular among younger voters, had repeatedly said the rape charges were a ploy to stop him from running for the presidency next year. He boycotted the trial proceedings, but was forcibly returned to Dakar by the police on Sunday, ahead of the verdict. What happened in the Senegal protests? Following the verdict, supporters of Sonko took to the streets and threw rocks at riot police and set buses on fire.  Sonko's political party, PASTEF, claimed that the verdict was part of a political conspiracy and issued a statement urging citizens to "stop all activity and take to the streets." In Dakar, thick black smoke was seen in the central university campus as protesters set multiple buses ablaze and clashed with riot police, who responded by using tear gas. Despite signs of ongoing sporadic unrest throughout the evening, government spokesperson Abdou Karim Fofana assured the public that security forces had the situation under control in the capital. Sonko and supporters decry 'politically motivated' trial Like Sonko, his supporters argue the charges are politically motivated, which the authorities deny. Sonko, who is president of the PASTEF-Patriots party, came third in the 2019 presidential election behind incumbent Macky Sall and former Prime Minister Idrissa Seck. Senegal's electoral laws bar individuals convicted of criminal offenses from running for political office. A lawyer present at the hearing told the French AFP news agency that "corrupting youth" is a lesser offense than rape. The charge refers to the act of debauching or encouraging the debauchery of a person under the age of 21. It is not yet clear whether Thursday's hearing is sufficient to disqualify Sonko from Senegal's next election. Sonko has also recently received a 6-month suspended sentence in a defamation case, which he vowed to appeal. What do we know about the rape case? The prosecution claims the 48-year-old politician sexually assaulted and made death threats against a woman who worked in a massage parlor in 2021. Prosecutors were seeking a 10-year jail term for the politician. Sonko claims he visited the "Sweet Beaute" salon in the capital, Dakar, for a massage for chronic back pain. He denies any assault. In court, his accuser provided details of the alleged abuse, saying she was raped five times and had received death threats. A doctor who consulted her on the evening of the alleged event said he had found evidence of sexual intercourse. The salon's owner, who was accused of complicity in rape, was sentenced to two years. Ndeye Khady Ndiaye had denied that any of the services provided by her former staff involved sexual acts.

More female journalists are behind bars in Iran than ever before. Among them are Niloofar Hamedi and Elahe Mohammadi, both of whom have been accused of "conspiring against national security." For a long time, Niloofar Hamedi was a sports reporter. She loves soccer, her colleagues write on social media, posting photos of her at games. But for more than two months now, the 30-year-old reporter for Shargh — one of Iran's largest daily newspapers — has been locked up without charge. Hamedi's lawyer have said she's not allowed to contact anyone and that lies are being spread about Hamedi and her colleague, Elahe Mohammadi.  The two journalists were among the first to report on the death of Jina Masha Amini in September. Hamedi did so from the hospital where Amini was lying in coma before being officially declared dead on September 16. Hamedi was arrested four days later. Mohammadi worked for the Ham-Mihan newspaper. She traveled to Amini's hometown of Saqqez, in northwestern Iran's Kurdish region, to report on Amini's funeral, which sparked the first protests that would grow into Iran's current protest movement. Just two weeks later, she, too, was arrested. 'Trained in hybrid warfare tactics abroad' Hamedi and Mohammadi stand accused of having ties to foreign intelligence agencies, which, Iran's intelligence service and the Revolutionary Guard's security service claimed in a joint statement in late October, trained them. Hamedi was trained in hybrid warfare in the United Arab Emirates, Finland, Turkey and South Africa, said Ameneh Sadat Zabihpour, who works for Iranian state television and regularly conducts coerced "confession interviews" with political prisoners. Zabihpour was added to Washington's sanctions list in mid-November. On November 16, the US Treasury put six leading functionaries at Iranian state broadcaster IRIB on their latest official sanctions list for their role at that "influential instrument in the Iranian regime's campaign of repression and censorship against its own people." Supporters of the Islamic Republic eagerly accept and spread the disinformation that people like Ameneh Sadat Zabihpour give them. Like the claim of training in hybrid warfare, which implies no less than conducting warfare through a combination of classic military means, economic pressure, disinformation and manipulation. "False accusations spread online are dangerous and can later play a major role in court," human rights activist Shiva Nazar Ahari told DW. Nazar Ahari is a member of the Iranian Committee of Human Rights Reporters and has been repeatedly arrested, spending several of the past 17 years in jail as a result. She has lived in Slovenia since 2017. Speaking of the conditions that both prisoners find themselves in, the activist said, "Niloofar Hamedi and Elahe Mohammadi are both in the high-security cellblock 209 at Tehran's Evin Prison. No one knows when they will be put before a judge. What we can see are channels with close ties to the regime spreading lies sold as fact. For instance, right now, private South African vacation photos are being circulated to manipulate public opinion. It isn't the first time that journalists have been accused of not being independent and of having foreign ties." Nazar Ahari said the campaign is aimed at faithful supporters of the regime rather than a broader audience less likely to believe state propaganda. No use trying to intimidate According to the organization Reporters Without Borders, at least 43 journalists have been arrested since mid-September. Eight have been released, and among the 35 still behind bars, 15 are women. Those women are not letting themselves be intimidated. Kurdish journalism student Nazila Maroufian, for instance, is from Amini's hometown of Saqqez. Maroufian interviewed Amini's father, who explained that his daughter did not have any preexisting health conditions that could have led to her death. The interview was published on October 19, under the title "They are lying," on the news site Mostaghel. Shortly thereafter, 23-year-old Maroufian wrote on Twitter: "I have no plans to kill myself and I have no preexisting medical conditions. I am happy to have conducted and published this interview." Maroufian was arrested on October 30.  The Iranian regime wants to systematically silence women, said Christian Mihr, executive director of Reporters Without Borders Germany. Mihr said there is great concern over the fate of those brave journalists. They were undertaking great risks, even accepting the possibility of execution, to bring to light the truth that the Iranian regime is so desperately trying to hide. Three of the journalists currently behind bars were already in jail before the latest wave of repressions. Iran has for decades been one of the worst countries on the planet for journalists, according to Reporters Without Borders's World Press Freedom Index. Last year, the Islamic Republic of Iran ranked 178 of 180.

Social media influencer Ramon Abbas known as "Ray Hushpuppi" received 11 years behind bars for his role in an international money laundering ring. A Nigerian social media influencer called Ramon Abbas — but known better as "Ray Hushpuppi" — was on Monday sentenced in the US to over 11 years in jail. Abbas allegedly laundered millions of dollars of stolen money, netted in various cyber crime activities including online scams and cyberheists. "Abbas bragged on social media about his lavish lifestyle —  a lifestyle funded by his involvement in transnational fraud and money laundering conspiracies targeting victims around the world,” said United States Attorney Martin Estrada.  Hushpuppi's life of crime Life in the fast lane would catch up with Abbas when he was arrested in Dubai two years ago. Abbas was considered "one of the most prolific money launderers in the world," according to Don Always, assistant director of the FBI's Los Angeles Field Office. The Nigerian national along with convicted money launderer, Ghaleb Alaumary from Canada, conspired to launder the proceeds from various crimes, according to the Justice Department statement. In 2019, Abbas helped launder around $14.7 million stolen by North Korean hackers from a bank in Malta. The funds were then funneled through banks in Romania and Bulgaria, prosecutors said. Abbas pleaded guilty to money laundering in 2021 and admitted to trying to steal more than $15 million from a person looking to fund a new school in Qatar. According to court documents  Abbas played a "key role" in the plan, taking on "the roles of bank officials and creating a bogus website." "By his own admission, during just an 18-month period defendant conspired to launder over $300 million,” prosecutors wrote in a sentencing memorandum. "While much of this intended loss did not ultimately materialize, [Abbas'] willingness and ability to participate in large-scale money laundering highlights the seriousness of his criminal conduct.” The Justice Department said the matter was investigated by the FBI as part of its Operation Top Dog with substantial assistance being provided by the United Arab Emirates and the Dubai Police Department.