Syrian doctor tried in Germany for crimes against humanity

Alaa M. is accused of having tortured prisoners and killed at least one opponent of Bashar al-Assad: this former Syrian doctor, who practiced in Germany, is on trial for crimes against humanity from Wednesday in Frankfurt. Arrested in June 2020 in Hesse (western Germany), Alaa M. is sent back to court for 18 cases of torture of opponents of the Syrian regime and for the murder by injection of a detainee. For all these charges, the Federal Prosecutor's Office is prosecuting him for "crimes against humanity" in the name of Germany's universal jurisdiction. This legal principle allowed last week the life sentence of a former Syrian officer in another trial in Germany, the first of this type. Alaa M., who firmly denies the charges, allegedly committed these alleged abuses in two military hospitals in Homs, in central Syria, and in Damascus. Acts which illustrate, according to opponents of the regime, the use of these health establishments in repression. He was tried by the Frankfurt Regional Court and faced life imprisonment. The doctor would also have raged in a Syrian military intelligence prison between April 2011 and the end of 2012 in Homs, a stronghold of the opposition to the regime.

Covid-19: the daily number of new cases has exceeded 300,000 on average over the past seven days

The daily number of new cases of Covid-19 contamination has exceeded 300,000 on average over the past seven days, according to figures published by Public Health France. The daily number of new cases of contamination identified amounted to 464,769, according to data published by Public Health France. This brings the average over the past seven days to 309,433 daily cases against 281,965 the previous Tuesday. The critical care services, which receive the most serious cases, had 3,894 Covid patients on Tuesday (including 366 new admissions), against 3,913 the day before and 3,969 the previous Tuesday. The total number of hospitalized patients reached 26,593, of which 3,503 were admitted in 24 hours. The previous Tuesday, 23,371 people were hospitalized.

Four French soldiers injured in Burkina

Four French soldiers were injured in Burkina Faso when an improvised explosive device (IED) exploded as their vehicle passed by in the north of the country, the French general staff told AFP. "The all-terrain vehicle exploded on an IED at the exit of Ouahigouya airport", it was indicated to the staff, specifying that it was a "Barkhane unit in reconnaissance mission". Four soldiers were injured, one seriously. "They were immediately evacuated to Gao", in Mali. “Those who deserve it will be evacuated to France”, we continued from the same source, without further details on their state of health. The area is rather frequented by jihadists from the GSIM (or JNIM, a jihadist nebula affiliated with Al-Qaeda). But "it's a transit zone, we have no certainty" about the origin of the machine, said the same source. The Sahel is also the prey of the jihadists of the EIGS, linked to the Islamic State group.

IN SHORT

The dean of humanity, Spaniard Saturnino de la Fuente Garcia, has died at the age of 112 years and 341 days, Guinness World Records announced on Wednesday.

The International Agricultural Show “will be held” well from February 26 to March 6, 2022, with “compulsory vaccination pass” and “optimized ventilation”, the organizers of this event dear to the agricultural world announced on Tuesday evening.

The Moroccan prosecutor's office has entrusted the investigation into the murder of a French tourist near Agadir, in southern Morocco, to the anti-terrorist police, suspecting "a terrorist motive for the crime", a source close to AFP told AFP. of the investigation.

An investigation for suspicion of sexual assault was opened in Paris after a complaint was filed by a former BFMTV / RMC journalist against journalist Jean-Jacques Bourdin who launched a new political program with the main candidates for the Elysium.