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PEOPLE

Trafficker jailed for 18 years over boat disaster

A Tunisian people smuggler who survived one of the worst migrant boat disasters in the Mediterranean was given an 18-year jail sentence on Wednesday.

Published: 2 July 2015 08:25 CEST
Trafficker jailed for 18 years over boat disaster
At least 366 people died in the boat disaster in October 2013. Phot: Roberto Solomone/AFP

A court in Agrigento, Sicily found Khaled Bensalem, 36, guilty of trafficking and of having contributed to the ship catching fire and capsizing just off the outlying Italian island of Lampedusa in October 2013.

At least 366 people died in the accident which caused an international outcry over the plight of migrants trying to reach Europe by sea and led to the launch of Italy's search and rescue operation Mare Nostrum, which has since been succeeded by a multi-national mission.

At the time, the Lampedusa tragedy was the worst of its kind but it has since been surpassed by incidents such as the April sinking of a crowded fishing boat in which about 800 people are feared to have died. The Italian navy is currently in the process of recovering bodies from that ship.

MEDIA

France media attacker jailed for 25 years

A French court has sentenced a man who wounded a photographer in a shooting in 2013 to 25 years behind bars, in a case that predated the string of jihadist attacks that has since struck the country.

Published: 25 November 2017 11:27 CET
France media attacker jailed for 25 years
Abdelhakim Dekhar has been sentenced to 25 years in jail. Photo: AFP/ 17 Juin Media/Faites Enter L'accuse

Abdelhakim Dekhar, now 52, was arrested in November 2013 following a major manhunt after he broke into the headquarters of the BFMTV channel.

There, he threatened journalist Philippe Antoine with a shotgun, and said: “Next time, I won't miss.”

Three days later, still on the run, he managed to stage a shooting attack at the offices of left-wing newspaper Liberation, also in Paris, that left a photographer's assistant seriously hurt.

There was also a separate incident where shots were fired at the headquarters of the Societe Generale bank.

The court found him guilty of attempted murder of Philippe Antoine, now chief editor at BFMTV, and Cesar Sebastien, the wounded photographer's assistant at Liberation.

Prosecutor Bernard Farret had argued that “spite” had been Dekhar's main motive, adding that the shooter harboured “resentment against society, the state and capitalism”.

Dekhar, sentenced on Friday, was considering filing an appeal, his lawyer Hugo Levy said.

Of the total, Dekhar will only be eligible for parole once he has served two thirds of his sentence.

During his trial, Dekhar repeatedly evoked political arguments, raising topics such as France's colonisation of Algeria and social problems in the French suburbs.

He had also claimed he was suicidal and “desperate” for the police to end his life.

Dekhar had been jailed in the 1990s for his role in a “Bonnie-and-Clyde” style multiple murder and left rambling letters denouncing conspiracies and media manipulation.

The case predated the January 2015 jihadist attack on the premises of satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo, which left 12 people dead.

On November 13th that year, gunmen and suicide bombers left 130 people dead in a coordinated attack targeting several Paris locations including a concert hall.

The attacks profoundly shook France, triggering a state of emergency that was lifted only this month after President Emmanuel Macron signed acontroversial new anti-terror law.