U.S. prosecutors - The African Mirror

Jan

2024

US to seek death penalty against white supremacist Buffalo shooter

U.S. prosecutors will seek the death penalty against the white supremacist who killed 10 Black people at a Buffalo, New York, grocery store in 2022, marking the first time the Biden administration has initiated capital punishment proceedings. The U.S. Justice Department in a court filing on Friday said it would seek the death penalty for Payton Gendron for killings motivated by his "animus toward Black persons." Gendron, who was 18 at the time of the mass shooting, has already pleaded guilty to separate state charges of murder and domestic terrorism and was sentenced last February to life in prison without the possibility…

Sep

2023

By PATRICIA ZENGERLE

Menendez indictment prompts calls in US Congress for Egypt aid rethink

NEWS

CHARGES that Senator Bob Menendez accepted bribes in exchange for wielding his influence to aid the Egyptian government prompted calls in the U.S. Congress for the Biden administration to rethink $235 million in military aid to Cairo. Democratic Senator Chris Murphy, who chairs the Senate Foreign Relations Committee's Middle East subcommittee, said he hoped the committee would investigate the allegations and Egypt's involvement. U.S. prosecutors announced an indictment on Friday accusing Menendez of accepting gold bars and hundreds of thousands of dollars in cash in exchange for wielding his influence to aid the Egyptian government. "I would hope that our committee would…

Sep

2023

By LUC COHEN, PATRICIA ZENGERLE and ANDREW GOUDSWARD

US Senator Menendez charged with bribery, says he will not resign

WORLD

U.S. prosecutors charged powerful Senator Bob Menendez and his wife with taking bribes from three New Jersey businessmen, which could complicate Democrats' efforts to keep their slim majority in the U.S. Senate in next year's elections. Menendez later stepped down temporarily from his role as chairman of the Senate's Foreign Relations Committee until the case is resolved, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said in a statement, adding that Menendez had a right to due process. The U.S. Attorney's office in Manhattan said Menendez, 69, accepted hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of cash and gold bars in exchange for using…

Dec

2020

By The African Mirror

U.S. charges Kenyan militant with researching 9/11-style airplane hijacking

NEWS

MARK HOSENBALL U.S. prosecutors have charged a Kenya-born militant with terrorism-related offences, including conspiring to hijack aircraft for a 9/11-style attack on an American target on behalf of the Somali-based al-Shabaab militant group. Federal prosecutors in Manhattan and the U.S. Justice Department said that Cholo Abdi Abdullah, aged 30, was arrested in the Philippines in July 2019 and transferred to the United States on Tuesday to face six federal charges related to alleged terrorism. At a hearing held via electronic link on Wednesday morning, Abdullah told a U.S. magistrate judge he was pleading not guilty to all of the charges.…