PANAMA CITY (AP) — A judge has acquitted 28 people accused of money laundering in an international case known as the Panama Papers, including the co-founder of a law firm that authorities say was at the center of a conspiracy to hide money linked to illegal activities.
Jürgen Mossack founded Mossack & Fonseca with then associate Ramón Fonseca, who died in May. Mossack was acquitted on Friday along with others after a Panamanian judge found that the evidence against Mossack didn't comply with the chain of custody after authorities raided the office of the now defunct firm.
Prosecutors had accused Mossack, Fonseca and others of creating offshore companies and using complex transactions to hide money from illegal activities related to the so-called car wash corruption scandal involving Brazilian construction company Odebrecht, which pleaded guilty in U.S. federal court to a charge related to using shell companies to hide millions of dollars in bribes paid worldwide to win public contracts.
The judge noted that other evidence in the Panama Papers case “was not sufficient and conclusive to determine the criminal responsibility of the accused.”
In addition, the judge lifted personal and property precautionary measures against all the defendants, according to a judicial statement.
“We feel satisfied in the midst of mixed emotions, because many lives were affected along the way,” Guillermina Mc Donald, who was the defense attorney for Mossack and Fonseca, told The Associated Press. Her firm also represented 80% of the accused firm’s collaborators.
Judge Balaoisa Marquínez had decided to combine the Panama Papers case with another known as “Operation Car Wash,” a major anti-corruption investigation that began in Brazil.
On Friday, she ruled that in the car wash case, “it was not possible to determine the entry of money from illicit sources, coming from Brazil, into the Panamanian financial system with the purpose of hiding, concealing, disguising or helping to evade the legal consequences of the preceding crime.”
In June 2022, Mossack, Fonseca and 37 other people were acquitted in a separate money laundering case.
The investigation in Brazil began in 2014, with the Mossack & Fonseca firm later coming under scrutiny after 11 million financial documents tied to the company were leaked.
The repercussions of the leak were widespread: it led to the resignation of a prime minister in Iceland and brought scrutiny to now former leaders of Argentina and Ukraine, Chinese politicians and Russian President Vladimir Putin, among others.
FILE - Juergen Mossack, partner of the law firm Mossack-Fonseca, leaves the Supreme Court during the trial of the "Panama Papers" money laundering case in Panama City, April 8, 2024. On Friday, a Panamanian judge acquitted Mossack and 27 other people who were accused of money laundering in the notorious Panama Papers case. (AP Photo/Agustin Herrera, File)
The Israeli army has ordered a mass evacuation of Palestinians from the eastern half of Khan Younis. Monday’s order is a sign that Israeli troops could soon reinvade the southern Gaza city, which is currently filled with displaced civilians.
Israel told people to move to Muwasi, a coastal area designated by the Israeli army as a safe zone and which has transformed into a crowded and unsanitary tent camp. Israeli forces pulled out of Khan Younis earlier this year after a ground offensive left much of the city in ruins, claiming to have destroyed Hamas battalions there. Many of the 1.3 million people who escaped Israel's subsequent offensive in nearby Rafah took shelter in Khan Younis.
Israel says it's in the final stages of the Rafah operation. Last week, the military also ordered Palestinians up north in Gaza City to evacuate from the Shijaiyah neighborhood, where there has since been intense fighting and widespread displacement.
Earlier Monday, Israel freed the director of Gaza's main hospital, Mohammed Abu Selmia. He was released without charge or trial after being detained since November, when Israeli forces raided Shifa Hospital. Fifty-five other Palestinians detained in Gaza were also released.
The doctor said he and other detainees were held under harsh conditions and tortured. Israel denies such allegations.
Israel launched the war after Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack, in which militants stormed into southern Israel, killed some 1,200 people — mostly civilians — and abducted about 250.
Since then, Israeli ground offensives and bombardments have killed more than 37,700 people in Gaza, according to the territory's Health Ministry, which does not distinguish between combatants and civilians in its count. The war has largely cut off the flow of food, medicine and basic goods to Gaza, and people there are now totally dependent on aid. The top United Nations court has concluded there is a “plausible risk of genocide” in Gaza — a charge Israel strongly denies.
Currently:
— An ultra-Orthodox protest against order to enlist in Israeli military turns violent in Jerusalem
— An Israeli airstrike on the northern West Bank kills a Palestinian militant and wounds five other people
— Lawsuit accuses Iran, Syria and North Korea of providing support for Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack on Israel
— The United Nations starts to move tons of aid from the United States-built pier after security fears suspended work there
— The U.S. and Europe warn Lebanon’s Hezbollah to ease strikes on Israel and back off from a wider Mideast war
— Follow AP’s coverage of the war in Gaza at https://apnews.com/hub/israel-hamas-war
Here’s the latest:
JERUSALEM -- The Israeli military says a soldier has been killed by a roadside explosion in the northern West Bank.
Israeli media say the explosion took place in Nur Shams – the urban refugee camp near the city of Tulkarem where the army has been operating in recent days.
Earlier Monday, the army announced the death of another soldier killed in fighting in the southern Gaza Strip.
Over 600 Israeli soldiers have been killed since the war against Hamas erupted on Oct. 7.
JERUSALEM — Israeli settlers violently converged on a small Palestinian village in the southern reaches of the West Bank on Monday, sending six Palestinians to the hospital with wounds from tear gas and sticks, residents and witnesses on the ground told The Associated Press.
It was the latest Israeli assault on the Bedouin village of Umm Al-Khair, which has seen two settler attacks and a major demolition of homes in the last week.
On Monday, residents said settlers from a nearby outpost — known as Roots Farm — shot tear gas at Palestinian villagers and injured one man with a stick. That’s according to local activist Basel Adra, who was present in the village Monday. The leader of the Israeli outpost, Shimon Atiya, fired two live rounds of ammunition in the area, residents said.
“There were so many women on the ground, lying on the earth, struggling to breathe,” said Adra.
Videos posted to social media by residents showed a group of about 40 Israeli border police and soldiers looking on as the events unfolded.
As ambulances tried to evacuate the wounded, Adra said soldiers stopped the vehicles, allowing settlers to peer inside. Soldiers briefly detained one Palestinian man who was in an ambulance before releasing him the same day.
The soldiers then lined up Palestinian women in the village to photograph their faces, videos obtained by the AP showed.
The Israeli military declined to immediately comment on Monday’s settler violence or the Israeli forces’ activity.
Last week, Israeli military bulldozers demolished several homes in the village, leaving nearly a quarter of the 200-person village — including 31 children and a prominent Palestinian artist — without a home.
After the demolitions last week, the military body charged with civilian matters, COGAT, said the demolished structures had been built illegally. Palestinians in the areas have long said it is virtually impossible to get construction permits from Israeli authorities. They say settler violence has only worsened since the outbreak of the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza.
BERLIN — In response to the escalating conflict between Hezbollah in Lebanon and the Israeli military, the Lufthansa Group is temporarily suspending nighttime flights to and from Beirut, German news agency dpa reported on Monday.
The airline group, which also includes carriers Austrian Airlines, Swiss and Brussels Airlines, is suspending night flights to and from Beirut until July 31, it told dpa. Daytime flights to and from Beirut will continue to be offered, it said.
KHAN YOUNIS, Gaza Strip — The Israeli army has ordered a mass evacuation of Palestinians from the eastern half of Khan Younis.
Monday’s order is a sign that Israeli troops could soon return to the southern city – the second-largest in Gaza.
Israel wrapped up an offensive in Khan Younis earlier this year and withdrew most of its forces. The evacuation order indicates that Hamas has regrouped in the area.
Israel has said it is in the final stages of an offensive in the nearby Gaza city of Rafah.
JERUSALEM — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called for an investigation into the release of a prominent Gaza doctor from Israeli custody Monday.
The decision to release Mohammed Abu Selmia, the director of Shifa Hospital, sparked uproar from across the political spectrum, with government ministers and opposition leaders saying he should have remained behind bars and reiterating Israeli allegations that the hospital served as a base for Hamas.
Abu Selima was released without charge or trial back into Gaza.
Netanyahu said that the decision was made to release Selmia following a petition by rights groups to shut down a shadowy detention facility in Israel’s south which alleged that Palestinians were being abused at the overcrowded facility. The case prompted the government to transfer the bulk of the Palestinian detainees held there to other facilities and to release some, like Selmia.
“The identity of the released prisoners is determined independently by the security officials based on their professional considerations,” Netanyahu wrote, adding that he was calling for an investigation into the matter.
RAMALLAH, West Bank — Palestinian health officials say a woman and a teenager were shot and killed by Israeli forces in the occupied West Bank.
The Palestinian Health Ministry said another four people were wounded during Monday’s raid in the northern West Bank town of Tulkarem.
Israeli forces have carried out near-daily arrest raids across the West Bank since Hamas’ surprise Oct. 7 attack ignited the war in Gaza.
The Palestinian Health Ministry says over 550 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli fire in the West Bank since then. Most have been killed during Israeli raids or violent protests.
Israel captured the West Bank, along with Gaza and east Jerusalem, in the 1967 Mideast war. The Palestinians want all three territories for their future state.
Israel has built scores of settlements across the West Bank that are now home to over 500,000 Jewish settlers. The settlers have Israeli citizenship, while the 3 million Palestinians in the West Bank live under seemingly open-ended Israeli military rule.
CAIRO — A Palestinian health official says Israel has released 55 Palestinians it detained from Gaza, including the director of the territory’s main hospital.
Mohammed Abu Selmia was detained in November when Israeli forces raided Shifa Hospital. The army said Hamas was using the facility for military purposes and uncovered a tunnel within the medical complex. Abu Selmia and other staff denied the allegations.
In justifying its first raid, Israel said that underneath the hospital lay a complex network of tunnels, a central command center for Hamas. Evidence produced from that raid— caches of weapons, a tunnel leading to small, rusty quarters that appeared out of use, and no scores of militants found — fell far short of the claim.
Nahedh Abu Taema, director of the Nasser Hospital in southern Gaza, which has also been raided by Israeli forces, says Abu Selmia was among 55 Palestinian detainees from Gaza released Monday. He says all but five were taken to Nasser Hospital for medical checks while the others were taken to the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Deir al-Balah.
Israel accuses Hamas and other militant groups of sheltering in hospitals and using them for military purposes. Palestinian health officials say Israeli raids have forced several hospitals to shut down or dramatically reduce services, recklessly endangering civilians. Hospitals can lose their protection under international law if they are used for military purposes.
In video comments aired by Palestinian media following his release, Abu Selmia accused Israeli authorities of mistreating Palestinian detainees, saying they "are subjected to daily physical and psychological humiliation.”
Israeli authorities have denied such allegations.
JERUSALEM — The Israeli military says around 20 projectiles were fired from Gaza at communities near the border. There were no immediate reports of casualties or damage from the barrage early Monday.
The military said some were intercepted while others fell inside southern Israel.
It says they were launched from the vicinity of the southern town of Khan Younis, and that Israeli forces are striking the sources of the fire.
Nearly nine months into Israel’s massive offensive launched in response to Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack, Palestinian militants have continued to launch sporadic rocket attacks, though the intensity has been greatly reduced.
Fighters have also regrouped in heavily damaged areas of Gaza where Israeli ground troops operated earlier in the war.
In recent days, fighting has erupted in the Shijaiyah neighborhood of Gaza City in the north, which was largely evacuated and heavily bombed early in the war. Tens of thousands of people have fled the area in recent days, according to the United Nations.
JERUSALEM — Thousands of Jewish ultra-Orthodox men clashed with Israeli police in central Jerusalem on Sunday during a protest against a Supreme Court order for them to begin enlisting for military service.
The landmark decision on June 25 ordering the government to begin drafting ultra-Orthodox men could lead to the collapse of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s governing coalition as Israel wages war in Gaza.
Tens of thousands of men rallied in an ultra-Orthodox neighborhood to protest the order. But after nightfall, the crowd made its way toward central Jerusalem and turned violent with protesters throwing rocks and police using skunk-scented water cannons to disperse the crowd. The demonstration was still not under control late Sunday.
Military service is compulsory for most Israelis, but politically powerful ultra-Orthodox parties have won exemptions for their followers to skip military service and instead study in religious seminaries. The long-standing arrangement has bred resentment among the broader public, a sentiment that has grown stronger during Israel's war against Hamas. Over 600 soldiers have been killed in fighting, and tens of thousands of reservists have been activated, upending careers, businesses and lives.
Smoke rises after an explosion in the Gaza Strip as seen from southern Israel, Saturday, June 29, 2024. (AP Photo/Leo Correa)
Palestinians inspect the destruction following an Israeli operation in Nur Shams refugee camp, near the West Bank town of Tulkarem, Monday, July 1, 2024. Palestinian health officials say a woman and a teenager were shot and killed, and four people were wounded by Israeli forces during a raid in the northern West Bank. (AP Photo/Majdi Mohammed)
Palestinians walk along a damaged road following an Israeli operation in Nur Shams refugee camp, near the West Bank town of Tulkarem, Monday, July 1, 2024. Palestinian health officials say a woman and a teenager were shot and killed, and four people were wounded by Israeli forces during a raid in the northern West Bank. (AP Photo/Majdi Mohammed)
Palestinians inspect the destruction following an Israeli operation in Nur Shams refugee camp, near the West Bank town of Tulkarem, Monday, July 1, 2024. Palestinian health officials say a woman and a teenager were shot and killed, and four people were wounded by Israeli forces during a raid in the northern West Bank. (AP Photo/Majdi Mohammed)
Palestinian children displaced by the Israeli bombardment of the Gaza Strip fill plastic bottles with water as others queue and wait their turn at a makeshift tent camp in the southern town of Khan Younis, Monday, July 1, 2024. (AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi)
Palestinians displaced by the Israeli bombardment of the Gaza Strip queue for water at a makeshift tent camp in the southern town of Khan Younis, Monday, July 1, 2024. (AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi)
Israeli soldiers move on the top of a tank near the Israeli-Gaza border, as seen from southern Israel, Saturday, June 29, 2024. (AP Photo/Leo Correa)
FILE - Israeli soldiers stand outside Shifa Hospital in Gaza City, Nov. 22, 2023. Israel released the director of Gaza's main hospital on Monday, seven months after the military raided the facility over allegations it was being used as a Hamas command center. (AP Photo/Victor R. Caivano, File)
A Palestinian man, center, who was arrested in the Gaza Strip by the Israeli military and released through the Kissufim crossing point is welcomed by relatives at a hospital in Deir al Balah, central Gaza Strip on Monday, July 1, 2024. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)
This video grab shows Mohammed Abu Selmia, the director of Gaza's main hospital, who was detained by Israeli forces in November, sitting with his family after his release, along with other detainees, at a hospital in Khan Younis, Gaza Strip on Monday, July 1, 2024. Israel released the director of Gaza's main hospital on Monday after holding him for seven months without charge or trial over allegations the facility had been used as a Hamas command center. He said he and other detainees were held under harsh conditions and tortured. (AP Photo/Mohammad Jahjouh)
Palestinians displaced by the Israeli bombardment of the Gaza Strip queue for water at a makeshift tent camp in the southern town of Khan Younis, Monday, July 1, 2024. (AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi)
A woman carries a frame that shows a portrait for Hezbollah leader Sayyid Hassan Nasrallah, as she passes destroyed houses that were hit by Israeli airstrikes, in Aita al-Shaab, a Lebanese border village with Israel, south Lebanon, Saturday,, June 29, 2024. (AP Photo/Mohammed Zaatari)
Palestinians displaced by the Israeli bombardment of the Gaza Strip walk through a street market in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip Saturday, June 29, 2024. (AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi)
A Lebanese woman smokes a water pipe as another woman flashes a victory sign, while standing on the rubble of a destroyed house that was hit by an Israeli airstrike, in Aita al-Shaab, a Lebanese border village with Israel, south Lebanon, Saturday,, June 29, 2024. (AP Photo/Mohammed Zaatari)
Palestinians displaced by the Israeli bombardment of the Gaza Strip walk through a street market in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip Saturday, June 29, 2024. (AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi)
A woman collects some children's toys from the rubble of her destroyed house that was hit by an Israeli airstrike, in Aita al-Shaab village, south Lebanon, Saturday, June 29, 2024. (AP Photo/Mohammed Zaatari)
The sun sets behind the buildings in the Gaza Strip as seen from southern Israel, Saturday, June 29, 2024. (AP Photo/Leo Correa)
Police use water cannon to disperse ultra-Orthodox Jewish men blocking a street during a protest against army recruitment in Jerusalem on Sunday, June 30, 2024. Israel's Supreme Court last week ordered the government to begin drafting ultra-Orthodox men into the army, a landmark ruling seeking to end a system that has allowed them to avoid enlistment into compulsory military service. (AP Photo/Mahmoud Illean)
People protest against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government and call for the release of hostages held in the Gaza Strip by the Hamas militant group, in Tel Aviv, Israel, Saturday, June 29, 2024. (AP Photo/Ohad Zwigenberg)
Palestinians inspect the destruction following an Israeli operation in Nur Shams refugee camp, near the West Bank town of Tulkarem, Sunday, June 30, 2024. Palestinian health officials said one person was killed and several wounded during an Israeli operation in the Nur Shams refugee camp in the northern West Bank. Israel frequently operates in the area, saying it is a stronghold of Palestinian militants. (AP Photo/Majdi Mohammed)
Palestinians displaced by the Israeli bombardment of the Gaza Strip walk through a street market in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip Saturday, June 29, 2024. (AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi)
