JUBA: South Sudanese President Salva Kiir has pardoned several key political rivals and rebels, a number of whom were accused of having received backing from old civil war foes Sudan, the government said yesterday.
Key amongst those pardoned is opposition leader Lam Akol, a former warlord who fought on both sides during Sudan’s 1983-2005 civil war, and Kiir’s biggest critic since he split from the ruling party in 2009.
Iran jails dissident for 6 years: Report
TEHRAN: A Tehran court has jailed dissident Mehdi Khazali for six years for acting against national security, media reports said yesterday. Khazali was charged in Tehran’s Revolutionary court for “disturbing national security and propaganda against the establishment,” the Fars news agency reported, quoting defence lawyer Mostafa Tork Hamedani.
Khazali, released on bail in June after being arrested in January, will appeal the verdict, the lawyer said. In February 2012, Khazali had been reportedly convicted of the same charges, and was handed sentences including 14 years in jail, according to human rights organisations.Agencies
