EU weighs response to opposition leader Navalny arrest in Russia, protest crackdown

Agencies

January 25, 2021

EU weighs response to Russian crackdown on pro-Navalny rallies | Europe News | Al Jazeera

Moscow, Jan 25: European Union foreign ministers on Monday debated the 27-nation bloc's response to the arrest of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny and a weekend police crackdown that saw thousands taken into custody during protests in support of President Vladimir Putin's most well-known critic.

This wave of detention is something that worries us a lot, as well as the detention of Mr Navalny, EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said as he arrived to chair the ministerial meeting in Brussels. More than 3,500 people were reportedly taken into custody during the nationwide protests.

German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas said that under the Russian constitution, everyone in Russia has the right to express their opinion and to demonstrate. That must be possible.

The principles of the rule of law must apply there, too Russia has always committed itself to that.

He and other ministers called for the immediate release of the protesters.

Navalny was arrested earlier this month when he returned to Moscow after spending months in Germany recovering from an attack in Russia with what experts have said was the nerve agent Novichok.

In October, the EU imposed sanctions on six Russian officials and a state research institute over Navalny's poisoning, but there is little appetite to take new measures immediately.

Borrell, the EU's top diplomat, is also planning a trip to Moscow and it's unclear what impact events will have on that visit.

On Sunday, French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian expressed concern about what he called Russia's authoritarian drift.

He told France-Inter radio that all light must be shed on Navalny's poisoning.

This was an assassination attempt, Le Drian said.

The protests attracted thousands of people in major Russian cities, including an estimated 15,000 in Moscow.

As they unfolded, the US embassy spokeswoman in the city, Rebecca Ross, said on Twitter that the United States supports the right of all people to peaceful protest, freedom of expression.

Steps being taken by Russian authorities are suppressing those rights.

The embassy also tweeted a State Department statement calling for Navalny's release.

Putin's spokesman said the statements interfered in the country's domestic affairs and encouraged Russians to break the law.

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Pak jail authorities say Imran Khan is alive and healthy after ‘murder’ rumours spark panic

News Network

November 27,2025

Authorities at Pakistan’s high-security Adiala Jail in Rawalpindi on Wednesday dismissed speculation about the condition of imprisoned former Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan, rejecting rumours that he had been moved out of the facility or was in danger. Officials said Khan was in “good health” and described the viral death claims as “baseless.”

“There is no truth to reports about his transfer from Adiala Jail,” the Rawalpindi prison administration said in a statement, according to Geo News. “He is fully healthy and receiving complete medical attention.”

Amid swirling rumours on social media, Imran Khan’s party, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), urged the federal government to issue an official clarification and demanded that authorities allow his family to meet him immediately, Dawn reported.

The frenzy began after Khan’s three sisters called for an impartial probe into what they described as a “brutal” police assault on them and other PTI supporters outside Adiala Jail last week. Soon after, several social media handles circulated unverified claims alleging that Khan had been “killed” inside the prison.

The rumours intensified when a handle named “Afghanistan Times” claimed that “credible sources” had confirmed Khan’s “murder” and that his body had been moved out of the jail — allegations that have not been verified by any credible agency.

Imran Khan, PTI’s patron-in-chief, has been lodged in the Rawalpindi prison since August 2023 in multiple cases. For over a month, an undeclared restriction has prevented family members and senior PTI leaders from meeting him. Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Sohail Afridi has reportedly been denied access despite making seven attempts.

In a letter to Punjab Police Chief Usman Anwar, Khan’s sisters — Noreen Niazi, Aleema Khan, and Dr. Uzma Khan — said they were “peacefully protesting” outside the jail when police allegedly launched an unprovoked assault after streetlights were switched off.

“At 71, I was seized by my hair, thrown to the ground and dragged across the road,” Noreen Niazi said, alleging that other women present were also slapped and manhandled.

Adiala Jail officials reiterated that speculation over Imran Khan’s health was unfounded and insisted that his well-being was being ensured, Geo News reported.

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