Ghislaine Maxwell’s brother accuses prison guards of ‘physical abuse’ as she awaits trial

Published

4 years ago

October 29, 2021

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The brother of Ghislaine Maxwell has told Sky News he believes prison officers have “physically abused” his sister and her treatment in a New York jail is a “fundamental abuse of human rights” that is “designed to break her”.

In his first UK TV interview, Ian Maxwell said US authorities have mounted a “disinformation campaign” against her.

He also raised concerns over whether she would receive a fair trial.

The British socialite and former girlfriend of paedophile Jeffrey Epstein is awaiting trial on charges of sex trafficking, which she denies. She is accused of procuring teenage girls for Epstein to sexually abuse.

In April, Ms Maxwell‘s lawyers released an image which appeared to show her with a black eye.

“I don’t see Ghislaine administering a black eye to herself,” Mr Maxwell said. “I think she has suffered some occasional physical abuse at the hands of her guards. Yes.”

Mr Maxwell also suggested his family would mount a legal challenge under human rights legislation.

“We are going to take it to the UN,” he said. “Take it from me. America has to be held to account, and it will be.”

A spokesperson for the US Federal Bureau of Prisons said: “We are committed to ensuring the safety and security of all inmates in our population, our staff, and the public.

“The BOP takes allegations of staff misconduct seriously and consistent with national policy, refers all allegations for investigation, if warranted.”

Epstein, a wealthy financier and convicted sex offender, took his own life in jail in 2019. He was awaiting trial on sex-trafficking charges.

Mr Maxwell believes Epstein’s death was a failure of the US judicial system, and his sister is now being blamed.

He said: “There has just simply been a transference of presumed guilt on the part of Jeffrey Epstein without any corroborating evidence. Just simply because she had a relationship.

“He then dies, and they’ve got to find someone to pay the price.”

Mr Maxwell believes the US authorities are responsible for a “disinformation campaign” against his sister.

“We start with a press conference designed to be prejudicial,” he said. “And then we have for the last two or three years a whole plethora of news programmes, documentaries and so forth, which are entirely one-sided.

“There isn’t any possible other way of viewing this, other than the way the accusers have set it up, and their attorneys, and that strikes me as a campaign designed to prejudice my sister in the eyes of the public.”

The Office of the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York declined to comment.

Ghislaine Maxwell’s lawyers have previously claimed their client has lost hair and over 15 pounds in body weight during her incarceration.

Mr Maxwell believes his sister’s treatment in prison has made it more difficult to prepare her defence, and questioned how Harvey Weinstein, Derek Chauvin and Bernie Madoff could all be granted bail pre-trial, yet his sister’s applications be repeatedly denied.

“It’s designed to break her,” he said. “That is just unjust. It is a fundamental abuse of human rights. And I find that quite shocking.”

“And I think that your viewers, if they are honest, should also find it shocking. Imagine if it was their mother or their sister or their daughter in the same position as my sister. You don’t think you’d kick up a hell of a fuss about it?”

A US federal judge has repeatedly ruled Ghislaine Maxwell poses a flight risk. Prosecutors cited her citizenship in three countries and significant wealth as factors as why bail should be refused.

With one month until Ghislaine Maxwell’s trial, her brother believes her reputation has been “comprehensively trashed” and is concerned she may not receive a fair trial.

“In the court of public opinion…. it seems to me that Ghislaine has already been convicted and the punishment that she is having meted out to her in prison as a pre-trial detainee is precisely what it is. Punishment prior to conviction.

“You are innocent unless and until you are proven guilty.

“But the mountain of allegations made against it and broadcasted and loud hailered around the world is so great, that I have to really ask myself, are we going to get a fair trial?”

Mr Maxwell said he has not spoken to his sister since her arrest, and he would be “shocked” if she was found guilty, but said she would likely appeal.

Jill Greenfield, a lawyer who represents some of Epstein’s alleged victims in the UK, said she had confidence in the US legal system and the trial was a vital opportunity for Ms Maxwell’s accusers.

“I think any alleged victim of a sexual assault will very painfully recount their memories of what happened to them.

“But by doing so they speak openly about something where they were, as they see themselves, a victim.

“And I think that can be quite cathartic for that alleged victim and [an] important part of the process to recovery.

“Standing up to an accuser in any sense is a really hard thing for someone to do and to be given and enabled to do that, through a court process, is really important.”

Ghislaine Maxwell is being held at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn. Her trial is due to begin on 29 November.

US

Hamas confirms direct peace talks with US – as it calls on Trump to ‘pressure’ Israel

Published

1 hour ago

May 15, 2025

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Hamas confirms direct peace talks with US - as it calls on Trump to 'pressure' Israel

A senior Hamas official has confirmed the militant group is in direct talks with the United States over peace in Gaza, adding that it believes Donald Trump can help broker a deal.

Speaking to Sky News’ lead world news presenter Yalda Hakim, Dr Basem Naim said Hamas has shared its proposed agreement both through mediators and “directly with some persons in the US administration”.

They are calling for “a prisoner exchange, total withdrawal of Israeli forces, allowing all the aid to get into Gaza and rebuilding of [the] Gaza Strip without forceful immigration,” he said.

Dr Naim also addressed whether Hamas – which has been in power since it won the 2006 Palestinian election – could step down from government in order to secure peace.

“We have also told the Americans, we are ready to, again, to hand over the government immediately if we reach an end of this war,” he said.

Dr Naim added Hamas has “accepted” an Egyptian peace proposal which “is talking about forming a Palestinian, independent, politically unaffiliated body to run the Gaza Strip”.

“Before that, as long as we are still occupied people, we have all the right to continue defending our people and resisting the occupation with all means including under resistance,” he said.

Turning his attention directly to the US president, the senior Hamas official said he thinks Mr Trump “has the capability and the will to reach this peaceful situation”.

He said: “Gaza and Gazans are deserving, like all other people everywhere, to live in peace and dignity.

“And I think President Trump can do it if he exercises enough pressure on the Israelis to end this war immediately. And we are ready to cooperate with him to achieve this goal of a more peaceful region.”

Responding to the interview with Hamas, White House National Security Council spokesman James Hewitt told Sky News that Hamas “has not demonstrated they are serious about peace” and that Mr Trump “has been clear Hamas must lay down their arms”.

“Hamas continues to wrongfully hold hostages, including American bodies, in the dungeons of Gaza who could easily be freed and have shown no changes in behaviour to indicate they will cease to attack civilians,” he added.

Hamas has set out ceasefire conditions – but Trump remains as stern as ever

Yalda Hakim

Lead world news presenter

@SkyYaldaHakim

Donald Trump’s Middle East tour has been full of surprises.

But the revelation that officials in his administration are speaking directly to Hamas is one of the most significant.

As the US president addressed troops at the Al Udeid airbase in Qatar – the largest in the region – I sat down with a senior Hamas official who confirmed direct talks were ongoing.

In an exclusive interview, Dr Bassem Naim praised Trump and talked up chances of finding a peaceful resolution.

It’s a remarkable statement from a senior figure within the group, which is considered by the US and UK to be a terrorist organisation.

Much has been made of Trump’s ‘transactional’ approach here in the region.

His commitment to the ‘art of the deal’ can often achieve unexpected results but also anger his allies – which is almost certainly the case with Israel’s embattled Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

When I asked Dr Naim about the demands from Israel and the United States for Hamas to disarm and accept that it can no longer be the governing force in Gaza, he set out conditions that Hamas says would have to be met.

However, President Trump’s public stance on Hamas remains as stern as ever.

The group “needed to be dealt with” he said earlier, adding he has “concepts for Gaza,” and that the US should “take it” and turn it into a “freedom zone”.

Israel’s war in Gaza has now entered its 20th month with more than 53,000 people believed to be dead, according to Gaza’s Hamas-run health ministry.

Some 15,000 of them are children, according to UNICEF.

There are still more than 50 Israeli hostages held by Hamas in the Strip.

In a statement released on Thursday, Hamas highlighted the fact it recently released hostage Edan Alexander, an Israeli soldier with American citizenship.

It continued: “We expect, based on the understandings reached with the American side, and with the knowledge of the mediators, that humanitarian aid should have entered the Gaza Strip immediately, a call been made for a permanent ceasefire, and that comprehensive negotiations would have been held on all issues to achieve security and stability in the region, a goal we aspire to achieve.

“However, failure to achieve these steps, especially the entry of humanitarian aid to our people, will cast a negative effect over any efforts to complete negotiations on the prisoner exchange process.”

The US president has previously shared plans of his own for Gaza and in February, he posted a bizarre AI video showing the region transformed into a paradise complete with its own Trump tower and exotic beaches.

The States could “own that piece of land” and develop it, he said – but the idea was swiftly condemned as the effective “ethnic cleansing” of Palestinians from Gaza.

Mr Trump is currently on a visit to the Middle East, which has included stops in the United Arab Emirates, Qatar and Saudi Arabia – but not Israel.

There had been hopes his trip could lead to a ceasefire deal, but Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has pushed ahead with an escalation of force on the Gaza Strip.

Israel has this week launched airstrikes on two consecutive nights while continuing to block aid for the region, worsening the humanitarian crisis.

Watch the full interview with Dr Basem Naim from 9pm this evening on The World With Yalda Hakim on Sky News

US

Ben & Jerry’s co-founder arrested after US Capitol Gaza protest

Published

1 hour ago

May 15, 2025

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Ben & Jerry's co-founder arrested after US Capitol Gaza protest

The co-founder of Ben & Jerry’s has been arrested after disrupting a Senate hearing with a pro-Gaza protest.

Ben Cohen, Ben of the famous ice cream company Ben & Jerry’s, was one of seven people arrested at a Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee hearing on Wednesday, Sky News’ US partner NBC News reported.

Robert F Kennedy Jr was speaking to the committee when the protests started with someone shouting: “RFK kills people with AIDs!”

“When Bobby lies, children die,” is also heard, as well as: “Anti-vax, anti-science, anti-America” in reference to Mr Kennedy’s vaccine views.

Police quickly flooded into the room and began dragging out protesters.

Moments after, Mr Cohen got to his feet and accused the US government of playing a role in the deaths of children in Gaza.

The ice cream boss can be seen in footage of the incident on his feet, gesturing as he shouted at the US health secretary.

“You’re killing poor kids in Gaza and paying for it by cutting Medicaid for kids here,” shouted Mr Cohen.

He is one of the last protesters hauled out of the room.

But even as he’s removed, he can still be heard shouting.

“Congress and the senators need to ease the siege. They need to let food into Gaza. They need to let food to starving kids,” he said.

The other six protesters were charged with resisting arrest and assault on an officer, NBC News said.

Earlier on Wednesday, Mr Cohen had attended a pro-Palestine event with Democratic Representative Rashida Tlaib.

Afterwards, Mr Cohen tweeted out a video of the incident, saying: “I told Congress they’re killing poor kids in Gaza by buying bombs, and they’re paying for it by kicking poor kids off Medicaid in the US.

“This was the authorities’ response.”

Mr Cohen is no stranger to protests or getting arrested.

In July 2023, he was arrested after protesting about the US prosecution of Julian Assange.

‘Poor kids in Gaza’

Israel has killed around 53,000 Palestinians during its war with Hamas, many of them women and children, according to the Hamas-run health ministry.

The Gaza health ministry does not distinguish between civilians and combatants in its count, but said that more than half of the fatalities are women and children.

It is said the real death toll in Gaza is higher because thousands of bodies remain buried under the rubble or in areas that medics cannot access.

The fighting began after the militant group led an attack across the border in October 2023, killing 1,200 people and taking around 250 hostage.

Since Israel broke a ceasefire on 18 March, almost 3,000 people have been killed, the ministry said.

The Israeli military has claimed, without evidence, to have killed 17,000 militants.

US

Three climbers dead after 200ft fall – while one ‘miraculously’ survives

Published

1 hour ago

May 15, 2025

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Three climbers dead after 200ft fall - while one 'miraculously' survives

Three climbers have died after they fell hundreds of feet on to jagged rock, while the survival of one man in the group is being called “miraculous”.

Vishnu Irigireddy, 48, Tim Nguyen, 63, Oleksander Martynenko, 36, died while climbing down a steep gully on the 7,800ft Early Winters Spire peaks in Washington state on Sunday.

Their fall was likely caused by a “weathered” piton, which is a metal spike serving as an anchor used to slow the descent down a steep mountainside, tearing from the rock, the Okanogan County Sheriff’s Office said.

The fourth climber, Anton Tselykh, 38, from Seattle, miraculously survived, despite also plummeting 200ft on to jagged rock and tumbling another 200ft before coming to rest in a tangle of ropes and climbing equipment.

He suffered internal bleeding and severe head trauma, which caused him to pass out until around 10pm, hours after the estimated time of the fall, police said.

He managed to untangle himself before “crawling and feeling around in nearly pitch darkness” to find his way back to his car, Okanogan County Undersheriff David Yarnell told Sky News’ US partner NBC News.

Mr Tselykh drove west over the mountain range and collided with a guardrail on the way, falling unconscious, before finally reaching a pay phone to call for help.

His survival “is miraculous to say the least,” Mr Yarnell said.

Mr Tselykh is being treated in a Seattle hospital and is in “satisfactory condition”, according to a hospital spokesperson.

The bodies of the three climbers have since been recovered, locating them via a GPS device in their kit.

Police said the three men had suffered massive leg and cranial traumas.

Authorities believe the group had been ascending the north Early Winters Spire peak when they decided to reverse course due to an approaching storm.

The Early Winters Spires in the Northern Cascades consist of two 7,800ft peaks, which are popular with climbers.

The route the group was taking was of moderate difficulty and sees climbers moving between ice, snow and rock, according to a local guide, who cautioned that conditions can change rapidly depending on the weather.