Aidan James, 28, is first Briton to stand trial for travelling to Syria to join battle against Isis
A British man who trained to fight with Kurdish units against Islamic State has been found guilty of a terrorism offence in a retrial at the Old Bailey.
Aidan James, 28, from Formby in Merseyside, was found guilty of training in weapons with the banned Kurdistan Workers’ party (PKK) in Iraq.
Continue reading...Controversial energy scheme had been halted by European court
The UK’s largest fossil fuel generators may be back in line for almost £1bn in backup power subsidies this winter after the European commission approved the UK’s flagship energy scheme, which was ruled illegal last year.
A shock European court ruling brought the government’s “capacity market” to a standstill last November, triggering an in-depth investigation into whether the UK’s plan to pay power plants to stay open was compatible with EU state aid law.
Continue reading...Report calls for higher age of criminal responsibility and warns of legal aid ‘deserts’
Powers to control justice, policing and prisons should be devolved to the Welsh assembly as they are in Scotland and Northern Ireland, a commission led by the former lord chief justice of England and Wales has recommended.
In a strongly worded report on the justice system in Wales, a review chaired by Lord Thomas of Cwmgiedd calls for the age of criminal responsibility to be raised from 10 to at least 12 years, says “advice deserts” are appearing due to cuts in legal aid, and condemns high imprisonment rates as unsustainable.
Continue reading...Bumi Thomas, whose sister got citizenship, wins appeal against removal from UK
Two Windrush sisters who describe themselves as inseparable are celebrating after a judge ruled that one of them should not be sent back to Nigeria.
Bumi Thomas, 36, was at risk of removal from the UK and at one point was given 14 days to leave, while her sister Kemi, 38, was not because of their different dates of birth.
Continue reading...Farrow’s book Catch and Kill describes Harvey Weinstein’s efforts to silence alleged victims and put Farrow himself off the story
The combination of rage, threats, professional promises and vulnerability that Harvey Weinstein used to secure the silence of women he allegedly sexually attacked is described in a newly disclosed interview between one of his accusers and Ronan Farrow, the journalist who exposed the Hollywood mogul.
In his new book Catch and Kill chronicling his investigation into Weinstein, Farrow relates for the first time details of his conversation with a longtime former employee of the movie producer, Alexandra Canosa.
Continue reading...UK lawyers say more women are coming forward, but are police and prosecutors ready?
The clearest impact of the #MeToo movement on the British justice system has been a sharp rise in the number of complaints made to police of rape and sexual assault over the past two years.
That surge, however, has coincided with a chaotic response by police and prosecutors, who have been engulfed in problems over disclosure and allegations they have refined their approach to the crime in order to improve conviction rates, although this has been denied by the Crown Prosecution Service.
Continue reading...Woman, 19, to go on trial after revoking claim she was raped by 12 Israeli tourists
Human rights and feminist groups are calling for Cypriot authorities to drop the case against a British teenager accused of falsely claiming she was raped by 12 Israeli tourists in a hotel room.
The 19-year-old, who reported the alleged assault almost three months ago but was then arrested after revoking her criminal complaint, is due to go on trial on Tuesday on a charge of public mischief. She has pleaded not guilty to fabricating the accusation of rape, but could be imprisoned for up to a year if found guilty.
Continue reading...After the latest atrocity by pro-Turkey forces, the long era of impunity may be near an end
Actual or suspected war crimes have been reported at every stage of Syria’s long-running civil war – and Turkey’s latest cross-border incursion has unleashed another wave of atrocities, including executions of civilians and other alleged crimes against humanity.
But despite huge amounts of documentary evidence collected since 2011 by the UN and independent human rights groups, the perpetrators of such crimes in Syria, whether they are governments, armed factions or individuals, have mostly escaped punishment. This has encouraged a sense of impunity among wrongdoers – and dismay among victims.
Continue reading...Heavier sentences for violent criminals among policies aimed at wooing Labour voters
Violent and sexual criminals as well as foreign national offenders who return to the UK will face drastically heavier penalties under measures that will form the centrepiece of a Queen’s speech aimed at wresting the agenda away from the delicate Brexit negotiations.
With just days to go before the deadline for Boris Johnson to clinch a last-ditch Brexit deal in Brussels, the Queen will on Monday set out his government’s priorities for a new session of parliament, including 22 new bills.
Continue reading...The UK government has been accused of acting like “a banana republic” after suppressing charges against the British group of Isis militants known as “the Beatles” out of fears that trying them at home could set a precedent for mass jihadist repatriations.
Prosecutors charged one member of the group, Alexanda Kotey, with multiple counts of murder in 2016 but the Home Office made no attempt to bring him home to face justice because, sources say, then home secretary Theresa May felt it was politically problematic.
Continue reading...Judge rules Manhattan’s district attorney could subpoena eight years of Trump’s personal and corporate returns
Donald Trump suffered a major setback in the long struggle to conceal his tax returns on Monday, when he lost a federal court ruling in New York.
Related: Jeff Daniels to play Comey on TV – and Brendan Gleeson to play Trump
Continue reading...Abd al-Rahman Milad attended 2017 talks between intelligence officials and Libyan coastguard
One of the world’s most notorious human traffickers attended a meeting in Sicily with Italian intelligence officials to discuss controls on migrant flows from Libya.
Abd al-Rahman Milad, known as Bija, took part in a meeting with Italian officials and a delegation from the Libyan coastguard at Cara di Mineo, in Catania, one of the biggest migrant reception centres in Europe, on 11 May 2017.
Continue reading...Police investigate unexplained death at Bronzefield women’s prison in Surrey
Police are investigating the death of a baby in Britain’s largest female prison after an inmate gave birth alone in her cell at night.
The Guardian understands that the woman, who had been at an advanced stage of pregnancy, gave birth alone in her cell in the early hours of Friday last week. A source with knowledge of the events said that when prison staff visited the woman’s cell on Friday morning the baby was unresponsive.
Continue reading...Action comes after newspaper has published numerous embarrassing stories about her
The Mail on Sunday (MoS) published numerous embarrassing stories about Meghan in the run-up to her wedding to Prince Harry. Many of them required the cooperation of Meghan’s estranged father, Thomas Markle, who helped the newspaper produce numerous articles including staged paparazzi photos.
Continue reading...Canadian Joshua Boyle was described as manipulative and abusive to his American wife after they returned from Afghanistan
Canadian prosecutors have described Joshua Boyle as manipulative and abusive, dismissing the former hostage’s testimony as a “fictional, self-serving narrative” as the crown began its closing arguments in the high-profile trial.
On Tuesday afternoon, prosecutors attacked the credibility of Boyle, who, along with his American wife Caitlan Coleman, spent five years as captives of a Taliban-linked militia after they were kidnapped in Afghanistan.
Continue reading...Prince compares wife’s treatment to Diana’s as proceedings over private letter are announced
Meghan, Duchess of Sussex has taken the unusual decision to sue the publisher of the Mail on Sunday after the newspaper published a handwritten letter she had sent to her estranged father.
The decision came as Prince Harry launched an extraordinary and highly personal attack on the British tabloid press and its treatment of his wife, saying he could no longer be a “silent witness to her private suffering”.
Continue reading...Peter Vlaming lost his job after claiming his religion prohibited him from using male pronouns for a student who transitioned
A Virginia high school teacher who was fired for refusing to use a transgender student’s new pronouns has filed a lawsuit.
The Washington Post reported that Peter Vlaming filed suit on Monday against West Point Public Schools, a system outside Richmond.
Continue reading...UK media freedom envoy speaks out after targeted killing of Jamal Khashoggi
A “glaring gap” exists in the world’s ability to investigate targeted state killings of human rights defenders and journalists such as Jamal Khashoggi, said Amal Clooney, the UK special envoy on media freedom.
She also said the UN special rapporteur Agnès Callamard, who undertook the UN’s investigation into Khashoggi’s murder, “had been forced heroically to manage a large-scale investigation with ridiculously few resources”.
Continue reading...Boris Johnson is deliberately whipping up fears of riots and deaths so he can try to invoke emergency powers and avoid extending the UK’s EU membership beyond 31 October, Labour’s Brexit spokesman, Keir Starmer, claimed on Saturday.
After a week in which the prime minister was accused by MPs from all the main parties, including senior Tories, of inciting violence by accusing Remainers of Brexit “surrender” and “betrayal”, Starmer said it was part of an orchestrated plan to stoke a sense of outrage among Leave voters and create civil unrest, so an extension might be avoided.
Continue reading...Trial of a euthanasia activist who helped a tetraplegic, blind DJ to die may lead to new law
Italy’s constitutional court has ruled it was not always a crime to help someone in “intolerable suffering” commit suicide, opening the way for a change of law in the Catholic country.
Parliament is now expected to debate the matter, which was highlighted by the Milan trial of an activist who helped a tetraplegic man die in Switzerland.
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