Five jihadists found guilty of holding French journalists hostage

Published

1 month ago

March 21, 2025

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Five jihadists have been found guilty of holding French journalists captive in Syria for the terror group Islamic State.

One of the guilty, Mehdi Nemmouche, 39, has been described by the prosecution as “one of the most perverse and cruel jihadists of the past 10 years” with a “total absence of empathy and remorse.”

“Yes, I was a terrorist, and I will never apologise for it,” Nemmouche told the court in France hours before the verdict was due, while denying he held the men captive.

“I don’t regret a day, an hour, or an act,” he added.

Nemmouche was sentenced to life in prison, and will serve a minimum of 22 years behind bars. Abdelmalek Tanem was given 22 years and Kais Al Abdullah was sentenced to 20 years.

Meanwhile, Oussama Atar and Salim Benghalem, who are both referred to as integral figures in the Islamic State‘s operations and believed to be dead were sentenced to life in absentia.

The trial in Paris heard that journalists Didier Francois, Edouard Elias, Nicolas Henin, and Pierre Torres were terrorised during their 10 months in captivity between June 2013 and April 2014.

The four spoke of relentless physical and psychological torture at the hands of ISIS.

During their imprisonment, they were forced to watch the executions of other captives and endure beatings while surrounded by the screams of fellow detainees.

Nicolas Henin was snatched in the Syrian city of Raqqa with photographer Pierre Torres in 2013.

He told Sky News he was just “taken off the streets”.

During his time in captivity, he met American journalist James Foley and British aid worker David Haines, both of whom were later murdered by the notorious British ISIS militants “the Beatles”.

“We were a total of 24. Nineteen men held in one cell and five women in another one…and the plan was to start everything with an execution,” he says.

He remembers the first person executed on the day they arrived was a Russian man, but the murders would continue.

At times, their captors also carried out mock executions, dragging their terrified prisoners out for fake beheadings or leaving them in the boiling sun for hours during mock crucifixions.

“All our captors treated us badly. It is not only about beatings or torture; to keep someone captured in the dark sometimes blindfolded is enough,” Mr Henin said.

Throughout the trial, Nemmouche has always denied being their jailer, but the four former hostages recognised him.

Edouard Elias said he remembers him tormenting them for hours with constant chatter and singing French songs.

Nicolas Henin will never forget his face or his manner.

“[He’s] sadistic, narcissistic, and I would say ‘gamer’ because for him nothing is serious. Everything is a game. He wants to win everything…he plays with the court,” he said.

Nemmouche is already serving a life sentence for the fatal attack on the Jewish Museum in Brussels in May 2014.

He carried out the killings for ISIS a few weeks after the French journalists were released.

“This man, who fancies himself intelligent, is devoid of any human sentiment,” Prosecutor Benjamin Chambre said, describing him as a “real sociopath”.

It’s more than a decade since the journalists spent months witnessing and enduring the darkest and cruellest acts of humanity.

Asked how he managed to survive, Nicolas Henin paid tribute to his fellow hostages David Haines and James Foley who he says supported him mentally while he was detained.

Ahead of the verdict, he called for sentences that reflected the gravity of the crimes inflicted on them.

And what of the men who seemingly take joy in inflicting such pain and suffering – are they evil?

That’s what they need us to believe, he explains.

“It’s part of the game of terrorists to terrorise people. They need us to believe that they are not human.

“We have to look for the humanity still in them to prevent ourselves being totally petrified by fear facing them,” Mr Henin adds, refusing to be cowed.

“I prevent myself from feeling any hatred against them as much as any fear,” he says.

World

Trump ‘very disappointed’ in Russian strikes on Ukraine and calls for Putin to ‘sit down and sign a deal’

Published

2 hours ago

April 28, 2025

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Trump 'very disappointed' in Russian strikes on Ukraine and calls for Putin to 'sit down and sign a deal'

Donald Trump has said he’s “very disappointed” with Russia as he continues to push for a peace deal to end the war in Ukraine.

On Saturday, the US president met with Volodymyr Zelenskyy at the Vatican for their first face-to-face meeting since their explosive White House summit.

The Ukrainian president said the meeting ahead of Pope Francis’s funeral could end up being “historic.” Hours later, Mr Trump questioned Vladimir Putin’s appetite for peace in a Truth Social post.

Speaking before boarding Air Force One on Sunday, Mr Trump again said the meeting went well, and that the Ukrainian leader was “calmer”.

“I think he understands the picture, I think he wants to make a deal,” he said, before turning to Mr Putin and Russia.

“I want him to stop shooting, sit down and sign a deal,” the US president said, adding he was “very disappointed that they did the bombing of those places (including Kyiv, where nine people were killed in a Russian airstrike on Friday) after discussions”.

However, Mr Trump said he thinks Mr Zelenskyy is ready to give up Crimea, which the Ukrainian leader has repeatedly said he would refuse to do.

He added that “we’ll see what happens in the next few days” and said “don’t talk to me about Crimea, talk to Obama and Biden about Crimea”.

Russia annexed Crimea in 2014, while Barack Obama was president.

Meanwhile, US secretary of state Marco Rubio told Sky’s US partner network NBC News that a peace deal to end the war was “closer in general than they’ve been any time in the last three years, but it’s still not there”.

“If this was an easy war to end, it would have been ended by someone else a long time ago,” he added on the Meet the Press show.

It comes after North Korea confirmed it had deployed troops to fight for Russia, months after Ukraine and Western officials said its forces were in Europe.

State media outlet KCNA reported North Korean soldiers made an “important contribution” to expelling Ukrainian forces from Russian territory, likely to be the Kursk region.

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KCNA said leader Kim Jong Un made the decision to deploy troops to Russia and notified Moscow, and quoted him as saying: “They who fought for justice are all heroes and representatives of the honour of the motherland.”

It also quoted the country’s ruling Workers’ Party as saying the end of the battle to liberate Kursk showed the “highest strategic level of the firm militant friendship” between North Korea and Russia.

Last June, Mr Kim and Mr Putin signed a comprehensive strategic partnership treaty after a state visit – his first to the country in 24 years.

The North Korean leader promised at the time “full support and solidarity to the Russian government, army and people in carrying out the special military operation in Ukraine”.

World

40 killed in blast at Iran’s biggest port as Tehran denies explosion ‘linked to fuel for missiles’

Published

2 hours ago

April 28, 2025

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40 killed in blast at Iran's biggest port as Tehran denies explosion 'linked to fuel for missiles'

At least 40 people have been killed and several hundred more injured after an explosion and fire at Iran’s largest port, according to state media.

The blast, at the Shahid Rajaei container hub near the southern city of Bandar Abbas, happened on Saturday as Iran held a third round of talks with the US in Oman about Tehran’s nuclear programme.

Shipping containers burned, goods inside were badly damaged and the explosion was so powerful that windows several miles away were shattered, reports said.

Helicopters and aircraft dumped water from the air on the blaze and by Sunday afternoon it was 90% extinguished, the head of Iran’s Red Crescent Society told state media.

Officials said port activities had resumed in unaffected parts of Shahid Rajaei.

Out of the 752 people who had received treatment for their injuries, 190 were still being treated in medical centres on Sunday, according to Iran’s crisis management organisation.

Chemicals at the port were suspected to have worsened the blast, but the exact cause of the explosion was not clear.

Iran’s defence ministry denied international media reports that the explosion may be connected to the mishandling of solid fuel used for missiles.

The reports were “aligned with enemy psyops [psychological operations]”, according to a ministry spokesperson, who told state TV the blast-hit area did not contain any military cargo.

According to the Associated Press, British security company Ambrey said that the port in March received sodium perchlorate, which is used to propel ballistic missiles and the mishandling of which could have led to the explosion.

The Financial Times previously reported two Iranian vessels had shipped from China enough of the ingredient to propel up to 260 mid-range missiles.

It was reportedly to help Tehran replenish stocks after its missile attacks on Israel in 2024.

Iran’s military has sought to deny the delivery of sodium perchlorate from China.

Iran’s state-run Irna news agency reported on Sunday that Russian President Vladimir Putin deployed several emergency aircraft to Bandar Abbas to provide help.

World

Pilgrims travel to Pope Francis’s tomb to remember the late pontiff

Published

2 hours ago

April 28, 2025

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Pilgrims travel to Pope Francis's tomb to remember the late pontiff

Anna and Irene have already been queuing for an hour or so, and they know they have a long wait still to come.

“Two hours, three hours, ten hours – what does it matter?” says Irena. “This is about eternity.”

They have come to Rome from Slovenia, Catholics who felt “Papa Francis would have wanted us to be here”.

And under the sun outside Santa Maria Maggiore, they are awaiting the opportunity to visit his tomb.

Francis, says Irena, “was like a rainbow” who lit up the world. Anna nods along: “We are so happy to be here.”

The Pope’s tomb has become a new source of pilgrimage.

More than 30,000 people came to view it during the first morning after the Pope’s funeral, the queue snaking from the front of the mighty basilica and then up and down across the square at the back.

Some were curious visitors, others were devout followers – priests and nuns mixing in the queue with tourists and devoted locals.

All of these admired Francis; a very few actually knew him.

Father Alessandro Masseroni is a deacon who came to Rome to train to become a priest. On his phone, he shows me a photo of him and Francis, with the Pope offering words of encouragement.

He says: “I had the honour to serve Pope Francis and to talk to him many times and it was a special experience. I understand why he was so loved by all the people – he was simple and direct.

“He was sunny. St Francis was his role model and when I saw the first picture of the Pope’s tomb, the first thing I thought was of the tomb of St Francis of Assisi.

“Pope Francis will leave a legacy – it doesn’t end with his death but will continue.”

What are your emotions now, as you wait to visit his tomb, I ask. Father Alessandro pauses and smiles.

“Many emotions of course, but mainly, I think… thankfulness.”

That has been a recurring aspect among so many of the people we have met in Rome over the past week – the sense that sadness for Francis’s death is outweighed by the sense that his was a life that should be celebrated.

Volodymyr Borysyak flew in from London on the morning of the Pope’s funeral to make his third pilgrimage to Rome.

Barely had he arrived than his phone was stolen, a crime he responded to by praying for the thief.

Volodymyr is a refugee from western Ukraine who worries that his home country’s plight is being forgotten by some of the world.

Now, the Pope who inspired him has died.

You might imagine that he would be resentful and angry. Instead, he is full of smiles.

“We are happy to be the pilgrims of the world and this is a special day,” he tells me. “I know the pope used to pray in this basilica so that is why we will stay so long here to visit Santa Maria Maggiore.

“I think Pope Francis was, is and will be the pope for the world, because of the mercy of his heart and his love for everybody.”