Leaders from Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso are hoping to find a way to repel advancing fighters linked to al-Qaeda. Al Jazeera’s Laura Khan explains what’s at stake at an Alliance of Sahel States summit in Bamako.
Published On 21 Dec 202521 Dec 2025
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Caroline HawleyDiplomatic correspondent
ESOHRSaudi Arabia has surpassed its record for the number of executions carried out annually for a second year in a row.
At least 347 people have now been put to death this year, up from a total of 345 in 2024, according to the UK-based campaign group Reprieve, which tracks executions in Saudi Arabia and has clients on death row.
It said this was the “bloodiest year of executions in the kingdom since monitoring began”.
The latest prisoners to be executed were two Pakistani nationals convicted of drug-related offences.
Others put death this year include a journalist and two young men who were children at the time of their alleged protest-related crimes. Five were women.
But, according to Reprieve, most – around two thirds – were convicted of non-lethal drug-related offences, which the UN says is “incompatible with international norms and standards”.
More than half of them were foreign nationals who appear to have been put to death as part of a “war on drugs” in the kingdom.
The Saudi authorities have not responded to the BBC’s request for comment on the rise in executions.
“Saudi Arabia is operating with complete impunity now,” said Jeed Basyouni, Reprieve’s head of death penalty for the Middle East and North Africa. “It’s almost making a mockery of the human rights system.”
She described torture and forced confessions as “endemic” within the Saudi criminal justice system.
Ms Basyouni called it a “brutal and arbitrary crackdown” in which innocent people and those on the margins of society have been caught up.
Tuesday saw the execution of a young Egyptian fisherman, Issam al-Shazly, who was arrested in 2021 in Saudi territorial waters and said he had been coerced into smuggling drugs.
Reprieve says that 96 of the executions were solely linked to hashish.
“It almost seems that it doesn’t matter to them who they execute, as long as they send a message to society that there’s a zero-tolerance policy on whatever issue they’re talking about – whether it’s protests, freedom of expression, or drugs,” said Ms Basyouni.
There has been a surge of drug-related executions since the Saudi authorities ended an unofficial moratorium in late 2022 – a step described as “deeply regrettable” by the UN human rights office.
Speaking anonymously to the BBC, relatives of men on death row on drugs charges have spoken of the “terror” they’re now living in.
One told the BBC: “The only time of the week that I sleep is on Friday and Saturday because there are no executions on those days.”
Cellmates witness people they have shared prison life with for years being dragged kicking and screaming to their death, according to Reprieve.
ReutersThe de facto ruler of Saudi Arabia, Mohammed bin Salman – who became crown prince in 2017 – has changed the country profoundly over the past few years, loosening social restrictions while simultaneously silencing criticism.
In a bid to diversify its economy away from oil, he has opened Saudi Arabia up to the outside world, taken the religious police off the streets, and allowed women to drive.
But the kingdom’s human rights record remains “abysmal”, according to the US-based campaign group Human Rights Watch, with the high level of executions a major concern. In recent years, only China and Iran have put more people to death, according to human rights activists.
“There’s been no cost for Mohammed bin Salman and his authorities for going ahead with these executions,” said Joey Shea, who researches Saudi Arabia for Human Rights Watch. “The entertainment events, the sporting events, all of it is continuing to happen with no repercussions, really.”
According to Reprieve, the families of those executed are usually not informed in advance, or given the body, or informed where they have been buried.
The Saudi authorities do not reveal the method of execution, although it is believed to be either beheading or firing squad.
In a statement sent to the BBC, the UN’s special rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions, Dr Morris Tidball-Binz, called for an immediate moratorium on executions in Saudi Arabia with a view to abolition, as well as “full compliance with international safeguards (including effective legal assistance and consular access for foreign nationals), prompt notification of families, the return of remains without delay and the publication of comprehensive execution data to enable independent scrutiny”.
Amnesty InternationalAmong the Saudi nationals executed this year were Abdullah al-Derazi and Jalal al-Labbad, who were both minors at the time of their arrest.
They had protested against the government’s treatment of the Shia Muslim minority in 2011 and 2012, and participated in the funerals of people killed by security forces. They were convicted of terrorism-related charges and sentenced to death after what Amnesty International said were grossly unfair trials that relied on torture-tainted “confessions”. UN human rights experts had called for their release.
The UN also condemned the execution in June of the journalist, Turki al-Jasser, who had been arrested in 2018 and sentenced to death on charges of terrorism and high treason based on writings he was accused of authoring.
“Capital punishment against journalists is a chilling attack on freedom of expression and press freedom,” said Unesco’s Director-General, Audrey Azoulay.
Reporters Without Borders said he was the first journalist to be executed in Saudi Arabia since Mohammed bin Salman came to power, although another journalist, Jamal Khashoggi, was murdered by Saudi agents at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul in 2018.
Human Rights WatchLast December, UN experts wrote to the Saudi authorities to express concern over a group of 32 Egyptians and one Jordanian national who had been sentenced to death on drugs charges, and their “alleged absence of legal representation”. Since then, most of the group have been executed.
A relative of one man put to death earlier this year said that he had told her that people were being “taken like goats” to be killed.
The BBC has approached the Saudi authorities for a response to the allegations but has not received one.
But in a letter dated January 2025 – in reply to concerns raised by UN special rapporteurs – they said that Saudi Arabia “protects and upholds” human rights and that its laws “prohibit and punish torture”.
“The death penalty is imposed only for the most serious crimes and in extremely limited circumstances,” the letter stated. “It is not handed down or carried out until judicial proceedings in courts of all levels have been completed.”
Here are the details on the teams, groups, format, match fixtures, kickoff times and venues for AFCON 2025:
⚽ Group A: Morocco, Mali, Zambia, Comoros
⚽ Group B: Egypt, South Africa, Angola, Zimbabwe
⚽ Group C: Nigeria, Tunisia, Uganda, Tanzania
⚽ Group D: Senegal, DR Congo, Benin, Botswana
⚽ Group E: Algeria, Burkina Faso, Equatorial Guinea, Sudan
⚽ Group F: Ivory Coast, Cameroon, Gabon, Mozambique
list of 4 itemsend of list
The top two teams of each group, along with the best four third-placed teams, will advance to the knockout stage, beginning with the round of 16. That is followed by the quarterfinals, semifinals and the final. There is also a third-place playoff between the two losing semifinalists.
In the knockout stages, if a match is level at the end of normal playing time, teams will play 30 minutes of extra time and, if required, a penalty shootout.
December 21
Group A: Morocco vs Comoros (Prince Moulay Abdellah Stadium, 8pm/19:00 GMT)
December 22
Group A: Mali vs Zambia (Stade Mohammed V, 3:30pm/14:30 GMT)
Group B: Egypt vs Zimbabwe (Adrar Stadium, 6pm/17:00 GMT)
Group B: South Africa vs Angola (Marrakesh Stadium, 8:30pm/19:30 GMT)
December 23
Group C: Nigeria vs Tanzania (Fez Stadium, 1pm/12:00 GMT)
Group C: Tunisia vs Uganda (Prince Moulay Abdellah Stadium, 3:30pm/14:30 GMT)
Group D: Senegal vs Botswana (Ibn Batouta Stadium, 6pm/17:00 GMT)
Group D: DR Congo vs Benin (Al Barid Stadium, 8:30pm/19:30 GMT)
December 24
Group E: Algeria vs Sudan (Moulay Hassan Stadium, 1pm/12:00 GMT)
Group E: Burkina Faso vs Equatorial Guinea (Stade Mohammed V, 3:30pm/14:30 GMT)
Group F: Ivory Coast vs Mozambique (Marrakesh Stadium, 6pm/17:00 GMT)
Group F: Cameroon vs Gabon(Adrar Stadium, 8:30pm/19:30 GMT)
Rest day on Christmas
December 26
Group A: Morocco vs Mali (Prince Moulay Abdellah Stadium, 1pm/12:00 GMT)
Group A: Zambia vs Comoros (Stade Mohammed V, 3:30pm/14:30 GMT)
Group B: Egypt vs South Africa (Adrar Stadium, 6pm/17:00 GMT)
Group B: Angola vs Zimbabwe (Marrakesh Stadium, 8:30pm/19:30 GMT)
December 27
Group C: Nigeria vs Tunisia (Fez Stadium, 1pm/12:00 GMT)
Group C: Uganda vs Tanzania (Al Barid Stadium, 3:30pm/14:30 GMT)
Group D: Senegal vs DR Congo (Ibn Batouta Stadium, 6pm/17:00 GMT)
Group D: Benin vs Botswana (Prince Moulay Abdellah Stadium, 8:30pm/19:30 GMT)
December 28
Group E: Algeria vs Burkina Faso (Moulay Hassan Stadium, 1pm/12:00 GMT)
Group E: Equatorial Guinea vs Sudan (Stade Mohammed V, 3:30pm/14:30 GMT)
Group F: Ivory Coast vs Cameroon (Marrakesh Stadium, 6pm/17:00 GMT)
Group F: Gabon vs Mozambique (Adrar Stadium, 8:30pm/19:30 GMT)
December 29
Group A: Comoros vs Mali (Stade Mohammed V, 6:30pm/17:30 GMT)
Group A: Zambia vs Morocco (Prince Moulay Abdellah Stadium, 6:30pm/17:30 GMT)
Group B: Angola vs Egypt (Adrar Stadium, 8:30pm/19:30 GMT)
Group B: Zimbabwe vs South Africa (Marrakesh Stadium, 8:30pm/19:30 GMT)
December 30
Group C: Tanzania vs Tunisia (Prince Moulay Abdellah Stadium, 6pm/17:00 GMT)
Group C: Uganda vs Nigeria (Fez Stadium, 6pm/17:00 GMT)
Group D: Benin vs Senegal (Ibn Batouta Stadium, 8:30pm/19:30 GMT)
Group D: Botswana vs DR Congo (Al Barid Stadium, 8:30pm/19:30 GMT)
December 31
Group E: Equatorial Guinea vs Algeria (Moulay Hassan Stadium, 6pm/17:00 GMT)
Group E: Sudan vs Burkina Faso (Stade Mohammed V, 6pm/17:00 GMT)
Group F: Gabon vs Ivory Coast (Marrakesh Stadium, 8:30pm/19:30 GMT)
Group F: Mozambique vs Cameroon (Adrar Stadium, 8:30pm/19:30 GMT)
Rest days on January 1 and 2
January 3
Winner Group D vs 3rd Group B/E/F (Ibn Batouta Stadium, 6pm/17:00 GMT)
Runner-up Group A vs Runner-up Group C (Stade Mohammed V, 8:30pm local/19:30 GMT)
January 4
Winner Group A vs 3rd Group C/D/E (Prince Moulay Abdellah Stadium, 6pm/17:00 GMT)
Runner-up Group B vs Runner-up Group F (Al Barid Stadium, 8:30pm local/19:30 GMT)
January 5
Winner Group B vs 3rd Group A/C/D (Adrar Stadium, 6pm/17:00 GMT)
Winner Group C vs 3rd Group A/B/F (Fez Stadium, 8:30pm local/19:30 GMT)
January 6
Winner Group E vs Runner-up Group D (Moulay Hassan Stadium, 6pm/17:00 GMT)
Winner Group F vs Runner-up Group E (Marrakesh Stadium, 8:30pm local/19:30 GMT)
Rest days on January 7 and 8
January 9
Quarterfinal 1 (Ibn Batouta Stadium, 6pm/17:00 GMT)
Quarterfinal 2 (Prince Moulay Abdellah Stadium, 8:30pm/19:30 GMT)
January 10
Quarterfinal 3 (Marrakesh Stadium, 6pm/17:00 GMT)
Quarterfinal 4 (Adrar Stadium, 8:30pm/19:30 GMT)
Rest days on January 11, 12 and 13
January 14
Winner QF1 vs Winner QF4 (Ibn Batouta Stadium, 6pm/17:00 GMT)
Winner QF3 vs Winner QF2 (Prince Moulay Abdellah Stadium, 8:30pm/19:30 GMT)
Rest days on January 15 and 16
January 17
Loser SF1 vs Loser SF2 (Stade Mohammed V, 8pm local/19:00 GMT)
January 18
Winner SF1 vs Winner SF2 (Prince Moulay Abdellah Stadium, 8pm local/19:00 GMT)
Witnesses at the hospital and the UN say the attack killed medics, patients and may ‘amount to a war crime’.
Published On 13 Dec 202513 Dec 2025
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Myanmar’s military has acknowledged it conducted an air strike on a hospital in the western state of Rakhine that killed 33 people, whom it accused of being armed members of opposition groups and their supporters, but not civilians.
Witnesses, aid workers, rebel groups and the United Nations have said the victims were civilians at the hospital.
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In a statement published by the state-run Global New Light of Myanmar newspaper on Saturday, the military’s information office said armed groups, including the ethnic Arakan Army and the People’s Defence Force, used the hospital as their base.
It said the military carried out necessary security measures and launched a counterterrorism operation against the general hospital in Mrauk-U township on Wednesday.
However, the United Nations on Thursday condemned the attack on the facility providing emergency care, obstetrics and surgical services in the area, saying that it was part of a broader pattern of strikes causing harm to civilians and civilian objects that are devastating communities across the country.
UN rights chief Volker Turk condemned the attacks “in [the] strongest possible terms” and demanded an investigation. “Such attacks may amount to a war crime. I call for investigations and those responsible to be held to account. The fighting must stop now,” he wrote on X.
World Health Organization chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said he was “appalled”. “At least 33 people have been killed … including health workers, patients and family members. Hospital infrastructure was severely damaged, with operating rooms and the main inpatient ward completely destroyed,” he wrote on X.
Myanmar has been gripped by attritional fighting in a raging civil war.
Mrauk-U, located 530km (326 miles) northwest of Yangon, the country’s largest city, was captured by the Arakan Army in February 2024.
The Arakan Army is the well-trained and well-armed military wing of the Rakhine ethnic minority movement, which seeks autonomy from Myanmar’s central government. It began its offensive in Rakhine in November 2023 and has seized a strategically important regional army headquarters and 14 of Rakhine’s 17 townships.
Rakhine, formerly known as Arakan, was the site of a brutal army counterinsurgency operation in 2017 that drove about 740,000 Muslim-majority Rohingya to seek safety across the border in Bangladesh. There is still ethnic tension between the Buddhist Rakhine and the Rohingya.
The Arakan Army pledged in a statement on Thursday to pursue accountability for the air strike in cooperation with global organisations to ensure justice and take “strong and decisive action” against the military.
The military government has stepped up air strikes ahead of planned December 28 elections. Opponents of military rule charge that the polls will be neither free nor fair and are mainly an effort to legitimise the army retaining power.
Myanmar has been in turmoil since the army took power in 2021, triggering widespread popular opposition. Many opponents of military rule have since taken up arms, and large parts of the country are now embroiled in conflict.
Dec. 9 (UPI) — Florida has designated the Muslim Brotherhood and the Council on American-Islamic Relations as foreign terrorist organizations, becoming the second GOP-led state in as many months to move against the Islamic groups.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said in a Monday statement that the designations were “EFFECTIVE IMMEDIATELY.”
“Florida agencies are hereby directed to undertake all lawful measures to prevent unlawful activities by these organizations, including denying privileges or resources to anyone providing material support,” the Republican governor and President Donald Trump ally said.
The executive order signed by DeSantis accuses the Muslim Brotherhood of supporting and being affiliated with “political entities and front organizations that engage in terrorism and funnel money to finance terrorist activities.”
CAIR, the order alleges, was founded by persons connected to the Muslim Brotherhood.
The order also designates them based on their alleged connections to Hamas, an Iran-backed militant group in the Palestinian enclave of Gaza.
The designations, issued under state authority and while mostly symbolic, can prohibit contracts with the groups and bar them state funds and resources, among other measures.
On the governor’s personal X account, DeSantis said that members of the GOP-controlled Florida legislature were “crafting legislation to stop the creep of sharia law, and I hope that they codify these protections for Floridians against CAIR and the Muslim Brotherhood in their legislation.”
CAIR, and its Florida branch, were swift to respond, announcing they will sue Florida over the designation, which they called “defamatory and unconstitutional.”
The United States’ largest Muslim organization accused DeSantis of serving the Israeli government over residents of his state and of seeking to silence Americans critical of U.S. support for alleged Israeli war crimes.
“Gov. DeSantis knows full well that CAIR-Florida is an American civil rights organization that has spent decades advancing free speech, religious freedom and justice for all, including for the Palestinian people. That’s precisely why Gov. DeSantis is targeting our civil rights group,” CAIR National and CAIR-Florida said in a joint statement.
“We look forward to defeating Gov. DeSantis’ latest Israel First stunt in a court of law, where facts matter and conspiracy theories have no weight.”
The Muslim Brotherhood was founded in Egypt in the 1920s, renounced violence in the 1970s and now provides a mixture of religious teaching with political activism and social support, such as operating pharmacies, hospitals and schools, according to the Council on Foreign Relations.
CAIR was founded in 1994 with the mission to promote justice, protect civil rights and empower American Muslims. CAIR condemns all acts of terrorism by any group designated by the United States as a terrorist organization, including Hamas.
Neither the Muslim Brotherhood nor CAIR has been designated as terrorist organizations by the U.S. government.
However, President Donald Trump last month, via executive order, directed the Treasury and State Department to evaluate if any chapter of the Muslim Brotherhood in the United States should be blacklisted.
The Trump administration has accused the Muslim Brotherhood of fueling terrorism in the Middle East, highlighting actions by alleged members following Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel.
The federal government, under Trump, has repeatedly taken action against individuals and organizations that have criticized Israel over its war in Gaza, including revoking visas from students studying in the United States and fining universities over alleged failures to protect Jewish students during pro-Palestine protests that erupted on their campuses.
Federal immigration authorities last month detained British journalist and political commentator Sami Hamdi, who was on a CAIR speaking tour in the United States. He was released a little more than a week later under an agreement with the United States to leave the country.
No explicit reason for his detention was given, though Homeland Security spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin had said “those who support terrorism and undermine American national security will not be allowed to work or visit the country.”
Texas was the first state to designate CAIR and the Muslim Brotherhood on Nov. 18.