detention

Jan. 6 (UPI) — Switzerland has frozen any assets in the country owned by U.S.-detained Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and others associated with him to ensure that if they were stolen from the Venezuelan people, they can be rightly returned.

The asset freeze went immediately into effect when it was announced on Monday, but does not impact members of the current Venezuelan government, Switzerland’s Federal Council said in a statement.

The freeze is to prevent funds from leaving the country. In the case that future legal proceedings show that the assets were illicitly acquired, Switzerland said it will “endeavor to ensure that they benefit the Venezuelan people.”

“The Federal Council wants to ensure that any illicitly acquired assets cannot be transferred out of Switzerland in the current situation,” it said. “It has therefore decided, as a precautionary measure, to freeze any assets held in Switzerland by Mr. Maduro and others associated with him.”

Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, were captured by the U.S. military in an early Saturday operation that involved air and ground assets in Caracas. Dozens of people were killed. There were no U.S. military casualties.

The authoritarian Venezuelan president has been indicted in the United States on narcotrafficking and other related drug charges. The operation has raised domestic and international legal questions over Maduro’s detention and has drawn condemnation, including from U.S. allies.

On Monday, Maduro and his wife pleaded not guilty to the charges, and Vice President Delcy Rodriguez was sworn in as the country’s new president.

Switzerland called for de-escalation, restraint and compliance with international law following the United States’ Saturday military operation and said it was “closely monitoring” the situation.

The new asset freeze is in addition to sanctions imposed against Venezuela under Switzerland’s Embargo Act in 2018. The new measure targets the assets of 37 individuals who were not previously blacklisted by sanctions, according to an ordinance on the action. Maduro’s wife and other relatives were named.

Switzerland said neither the reason for Maduro’s ousting nor whether it was legal plays a role in its decision to apply the asset freeze.

“The decisive factor is that a fall from power has occurred and that it is now possible that the country of origin will initiate legal proceedings in the future with regard to illicitly acquired assets,” the Federal Council said.

The freeze will remain in place for four years.

Dec. 30 (UPI) — Attorneys for Brian Cole Jr., the man accused of building and laying pipe bombs in Washington, D.C., at two political party headquarters, are arguing for his pre-trial release.

Cole, 30, has autism spectrum disorder and obsessive-compulsive disorder, his attorneys said in a Monday night filing. He is scheduled for a detention hearing on Tuesday afternoon.

The attorneys argued that “government-induced excitement” around Cole’s arrest is premature and potentially violates court rules.

“The question is whether there is a present danger — a contention the government never actually makes, and something belied by the past four years in which Mr. Cole has lived without incident,” Cole’s attorneys argued in their filing. “No device detonated, no person was injured, and no property was damaged.”

“Whatever risk the government posits is theoretical and backward-looking, belied by the past four years where Mr. Cole lived at home with his family without incident. All of this weighs heavily against an inference of current danger to the community at large,” his attorneys wrote.

Cole was arrested Dec. 4 and hasn’t entered a plea. He is accused of placing two pipe bombs — that never detonated — outside of the Democratic National Committee headquarters and the Republican National Committee headquarters in Washington.

He faces charges of transporting an explosive device and attempted malicious destruction by means of explosive materials. The charges have a maximum sentence of 30 years.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Charles Jones filed a request Sunday to keep Cole in jail while he awaits trial.

Cole is from Woodbridge, Va., where he lives with his mother and other family members.

Israel has held Gaza doctor Hussam Abu Safia for an entire year without charge. His son is pleading for his release, describing his father’s mistreatment in detention and recalling his refusal to abandon his patients at Kamal Adwan Hospital.

A US judge has temporarily stopped the Trump administration from detaining British activist Imran Ahmed after he sued officials over an entry ban for alleged online censorship.

The founder of the Center for Countering Digital Hate is among five people denied US visas after the state department accused them of seeking to “coerce” tech platforms into censoring free speech.

The move brought a backlash from European leaders defending the work of organisations monitoring online content.

Mr Ahmed, a US permanent resident, had warned that being detained and possibly deported would tear him away from his American wife and child.

Praising the judge’s decision, he told BBC News he would not be “bullied”.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio had said online that the individuals were blocked over concerns that they had organised efforts to pressure US platforms to censor and “punish American viewpoints they oppose“.

Mr Ahmed filed a legal complaint on Wednesday against officials including Rubio and US Attorney General Pamela Bondi over the decision to have him sanctioned.

In court documents seen by the BBC, US District Judge Vernon S Broderick said on Thursday he had granted Mr Ahmed’s request for a temporary restraining order.

The judge also temporarily blocked the officials from detaining Mr Ahmed without the chance for his case to be heard.

The BBC has contacted the state department and White House for comment.

When approached by AFP news agency, a state department spokesperson was quoted as saying: “The Supreme Court and Congress have repeatedly made clear: the United States is under no obligation to allow foreign aliens to come to our country or reside here.”

Mr Ahmed said: “I will not be bullied away from my life’s work of fighting to keep children safe from social media’s harm and stopping antisemitism online.”

His lawyer, Roberta Kaplan, said the speed of the judge’s decision was telling.

“The federal government can’t deport a green card holder like Imran Ahmed, with a wife and young child who are American, simply because it doesn’t like what he has to say,” she said.

In 2023, Mr Ahmed’s centre was sued by Elon Musk’s social media company after it reported on a rise in hate speech on the platform since the billionaire’s takeover of the firm, now called X.

The case was dismissed but an appeal is pending.

A spokesperson for Antonio Guterres calls for UN staffers’ immediate release, as 69 now detained in the country.

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has condemned the detention of 10 more UN staff members by the Houthis in Yemen.

Stephane Dujarric, a spokesperson for Guterres, confirmed on Friday that the previous day’s arrests had brought the total of detained local staffers to 69, calling for their immediate release.

“These detentions render the delivery of UN humanitarian assistance in Houthi-controlled areas untenable. This directly affects millions of people in need and limits their access to life-saving assistance,” Dujarric said.

The Houthis, who control most of northwestern Yemen, including the capital Sanaa, have stepped up their arrests of UN staff since the start of Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza in October 2023, accusing them of spying for the United States and Israel.

The UN has repeatedly rejected Houthi accusations that its staff or operations in Yemen are involved in spying, a charge that carries the death penalty in the country.

On Thursday, the organisation confirmed that the detainees were all Yemeni nationals.

The latest arrests came days after Guterres discussed detained UN, diplomatic and NGO staff with Sultan Haitham bin Tariq of Oman, which has served as a mediator in the conflict in Yemen.

Guterres also commented this week on the Houthis’ recent referral of three detained UN staffers to a criminal court, saying they had been charged in relation to “their performance of United Nations official duties” and calling for charges to be dropped.

Shift in balance of power

A decade of civil war has plunged Yemen into one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises, according to the UN.

Guterres said this week that 19.5 million people in the country – nearly two-thirds of the population – need humanitarian assistance.

The conflict has recently entered a new phase, as separatists with the Southern Transitional Council (STC) extended their presence in southeastern Yemen – marking one of the largest shifts in power since the war began.

They now claim to control areas including the eastern governorates of oil-rich Hadramout and al-Mahra and the port city of Aden.

The STC, which wants to establish an independent state in the south of Yemen, has fought in the past alongside the internationally recognised, Saudi-backed government, which is based in Aden, against the Houthis.

However, the STC’s advance in the south brings it into direct confrontation with the government in Aden, known as the Presidential Leadership Council (PLC), which condemned the seizure of territory as “unilateral and a blatant violation”.

The STC’s leader, Aidarous al-Zubaidi, has a seat on the PLC, officially as one of its vice chairmen.

But relations have often been shaky between the group and the internationally recognised government, which came under major pressure in areas under its control over power outages and a currency crisis this year.

The two entities have previously fought, most notably in 2018 and 2019, in Aden and its surrounding governorates.

This week, Guterres urged all parties to exercise “maximum restraint, de-escalate tensions, and resolve differences through dialogue”.