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The Australian man who killed 51 Muslim worshippers in two mosques in Christchurch has received a life sentence without parole sentence. It is the first time under current New Zealand law that a sentence of life without the possibility of parole has been imposed.
Outside the court Muslims and non-Muslims gathered together to mark the end of three days of emotional victim impact statements during which more than 90 of those bereaved or wounded in the attacks addressed the court. Many asked Mander to bar the gunman from ever walking free from jail.
On the first day of sentencing, New Zealand’s public broadcaster TVNZ put out its nightly news bulletin. The legal process unfolding in Christchurch made it to fourth spot, behind three domestic Covid-19 stories.
Radio New Zealand (RNZ) focused its attention on the victim impact statements. The gunman himself barely warrants a mention, beyond the briefest physical descriptions from journalists in the room.
Australian terrorist did not oppose the unprecedented sentence, which comes after three days of emotional victim impact statements
The terrorist who killed 51 Muslim worshippers at two mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand, will spend the rest of his life in jail, a judge has ruled. It is the first time under current New Zealand law that a sentence of life without the possibility of parole has been imposed.
Dozens more were wounded in the attacks in March last year in the country’s worst peacetime massacre. It prompted an outpouring of grief and unity in New Zealand and around the world, and generated debate about how to deal with white supremacist terrorism.
Terrorist does not intend to speak at Thursday’s hearing but will have a lawyer make a brief statement on his behalf
Over a period of three days, 91 of his victims read statements to him in court. But the terrorist who attacked two mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand – killing dozens of Muslim worshippers at prayer – told a judge on Wednesday that he would not address the court himself.
There had been fears the Australian man would use the sentencing hearing as a platform to spread his anti-Islamic and extremist views. Brenton Tarrant, 29, a self-professed white supremacist, broadcast his massacre at the two mosques live on Facebook and published an extremist manifesto.
Hamimah Tuyan, the widow of the 51st and final victim of 2019's Christchurch shooting, addresses the gunman, Brenton Tarrant, in court, telling him his death elevated him from hero to martyr. Zekeriya Tuyan battled for 48 days after 18 surgeries before succumbing to his injuries. Tuyan's statements come after three days of family members of victims addressing Tarrant and the court
Victims and the bereaved describe how their lives have been changed since the Australian terrorist’s massacre
“Good afternoon to everyone except you,” Wasseim Alsati Daragmih told the terrorist. There was a ripple of laughter in the courtroom and a smile from the Australian man who had shot him.
It was the afternoon of the second day of sentencing for the man who stormed two mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand in March 2019, killing 51 people and wounding dozens more – including Darragmih.
More than half a century ago, Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay became the first men to summit Everest. Now a collection of rare photos from Hillary’s life is up for auction in New Zealand, featuring scenes of the climbers tackling the world’s tallest peak
A 10-week trial of Anders Breivik afforded him publicity, and underground infamy, but the openness benefited the victims too
Terror wouldn’t work if no one wrote about it. Terrorists crave our attention, our anger and our tears. Norway and New Zealand have both been struck by attacks from violent extremists inspired by ideas from the same root – white supremacy and Islamophobia – but the two countries have chosen different paths in how to deal with it. Norway chose openness and full exposure, while the case around the Christchurch shooter seems dimly lit.
In 2011, the then Norwegian prime minister, Jens Stoltenberg, sat in his home office to work on a speech he was going to give the following day at the summer camp of the Labour party youth when a loud bang sounded. Anders Breivik had dressed as a police officer and detonated the bomb outside the prime minister’s office in downtown Oslo, killing eight. He then travelled to the island of Utøya where the camp would be held and shot and killed 69 people, mostly teenagers.
Janna Ezat, whose son Hussein Al-Umari was one of 51 people killed in 2019's Christchurch shooting, came face-to-face with the gunman in court, telling 29-year-old Australian Brenton Tarrant, she forgave him. "I have decided to forgive you, Mr Tarrant, because I don’t have hate, I don’t have revenge," she said during victim statements. "The damage is done. Hussein will never be here. I have only one choice: to forgive you."
Masks made mandatory on public transport across New Zealand as coronavirus cases continue to rise
New Zealand’s biggest city will remain in lockdown until midnight on Sunday, the extra four days necessitated by the rising number of Covid-19 cases, the prime minister, Jacinda Ardern, has said.
Court hears that Australian planned to attack a third mosque before he was arrested
A court in New Zealand has heard for the first time an official account of how a terrorist who murdered 51 people at two mosques in Christchurch planned and executed the attacks – and his intentions to burn down both places of worship and attack a third mosque.
The details of the attack were read as a high-security hearing began to decide whether the Australian man will ever leave prison.
In a momentous year, Aotearoa’s youngest MP vows to radically change the political status quo from within. But behind the ‘OK Boomer’ politician is a committed advocate. Chlöe Swarbrick must weigh up the pressures placed on her versus her innate desire to make a difference.
OK Chlöe is part of the Loading Docs 2020 collection. The films can be viewed online via www.loadingdocs.net
Most weekdays south Auckland’s Ōtara shopping centre is alive with the blur of brightly coloured lavalava and the cacophony of clashing music thumping out from car loudspeakers.
But this week, in the midst of New Zealand’s second lockdown, the atmosphere is subdued and strained.
These look like scenes of yesteryear but thousands of people packed out a water park in Wuhan, China, over the weekend as much of the rest of the world remained under lockdown restrictions.
VIDEO: Crowds packed out a water park over the weekend in the central Chinese city of #Wuhan, where the #coronavirus first emerged late last year, keen to party as the city edges back to normal life pic.twitter.com/SJFBmx5sU8
The Philippines’ health ministry confirmed 4,836 novel coronavirus infections, the seventh consecutive day of reporting more than 3,000 daily cases, Reuters reports.
In a bulletin, the ministry said total confirmed cases had increased to 169,213, while there were seven additional deaths – bringing the total toll to 2,687.
Donald Trump has called out New Zealand for its recent Covid-19 outbreak, saying places once hailed as a success story in the pandemic are now facing a 'big surge' in cases. However, New Zealand's prime minister, Jacinda Ardern said there was 'no comparison' between the situation in her country and that in in the US
A new case of Covid-19 separate from the main cluster has been confirmed in New Zealand, with the infected person identified as a maintenance worker in a quarantine hotel in Auckland.
On Tuesday, 13 new cases were confirmed, with 12 relating to the Auckland cluster, which now numbers 69 in total.
In the UK, the government has performed a juddering u-turn to say that this summer’s exam results will be based on teacher assessment rather than a controversial standardisation model that prompted fury from students who found themselves sharply downgraded on the basis of their schools’ previous performance.
My colleagues Richard Adams and Sally Weale have a write-up here...
Earlier we posted a link to an interesting El Pais piece which noted that in recent months the average age of those newly infected with coronavirus had dropped significantly. If you’re interested in this phenomenon and its consequences more broadly, take a look at this piece by our own Jon Henley from last week:
Unlike during the early months of the crisis in March and April, when older people accounted for the biggest share of cases, in France, Germany, Spain, the Netherlands and Belgium 20 to 39-year-olds now represent up to 40% of new infections...
The challenge for governments and health agencies, experts say, is to prevent the virus from spreading to more vulnerable populations. “There’s no reason to imagine it can be contained to just one age group, without affecting others, Pascal Crépey, an epidemiologist and public health expert, told Le Parisien.
Voter turnout has been trending downwards in recent decades, hitting a low point in 2011 of only 69.6% of eligible voters. It’s plausible that in 2020 it could drop below even this. If the election were still to be held in just a few weeks, as originally scheduled, this would have been especially possible.
Jacinda Ardern has postponed the New Zealand general election by four weeks, to 17 October, but ruled out delaying it any further, as the country tackles a new outbreak of the coronavirus. The outbreak centres on New Zealand's biggest city, Auckland, after the country had been free of coronavirus cases for 102 days