TUNIS: Ansar Al Sharia spokesman Seifeddine Rais, detained in the Tunisian city of Kairouan at the weekend as police enforced a government ban on its annual congress, was released on bail yesterday, the Salafist group said.
“God be praised, our brother Seifeddine Rais has been freed,” the group said on its Facebook page.
Lawyer Anouar Ouled Ali said his client still faces charges of spreading false information and incitement to violence during a press conference earlier this month.
He has been summoned to appear in court on Friday. On Tuesday, Ansar Al Sharia called for demonstrations in Kairouan on Friday to demand the release of Rais, raising fears of new clashes with police like those that left one person dead and 18 injured on Sunday.
Death for four over priest’s murder
CAIRO: An Egyptian court sentenced four men yesterday to death by hanging for the 2011 killing of a Coptic Christian priest in his apartment in the southern city of Assiut, state news agency MENA reported.
The four were found guilty of killing Reverend Dauoud Peter Boules during a robbery that was aided by his maid, MENA said. The men beat and stabbed the priest to death and stole his money and some belongings.
There did not appear to be a political or religious motive behind the crime, a security source told Reuters. One of the four convicted is Christian, the source said.
Death penalties in Egypt are rarely carried out.
Four killed in Lebanon clashes
TRIPOLI, Lebanon: At least four people have been killed in clashes in the northern Lebanese city of Tripoli, a security source said, as fighting raged into a fourth day yesterday.
The source also reported that 35 people were wounded in the fighting between Sunni and Alawite residents of the flashpoint town on Tuesday.
The dead included two Sunni residents of the Bab el-Tebbaneh district, a third Sunni from elsewhere in the city, and an Alawite resident of the Jabal Mohsen neighbourhood, the source said.
Local media reported that the overall death toll since the violence erupted on Sunday stood at 10, eight civilians and two Lebanese soldiers.
Agencies
