US conspiracy theorist Alex Jones must pay the parents of a 6-year-old boy killed in the 2012 Sandy Hook massacre $45.2 million in punitive damages — on top of $4.1 million in compensatory damages already awarded — for falsely claiming the shooting was a hoax, a Texas jury decided on Friday.
Neil Heslin and Scarlett Lewis, separated parents of slain 6-year-old Jesse Lewis, testified that followers of Jones harassed them and sent them death threats for years in the false belief that they were lying about their son’s death in the Dec. 14, 2012, shooting that killed 20 children and six staff at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut.
The 12-person jury on Thursday decided on the compensatory damages following a two-week trial in the defamation lawsuit presided over by Judge Maya Guerra Gamble in state court in the Texas capital of Austin, where Jones’ radio show and webcast Infowars are based.
The parents had sought $145.9 million in punitive damages and $150 million in compensatory damages. Compensatory damages are awarded to cover a plaintiff’s suffering and losses. Punitive damages are awarded to punish a defendant’s actions.
Jones, who has been a prominent figure in American right-wing circles and a supporter of former President Donald Trump, had called the Sandy Hook massacre a hoax by the US government staged using crisis actors to serve as a pretext for taking away Americans’ guns.
“We ask that you send a very, very simple message, and that is: stop Alex Jones. Stop the monetization of misinformation and lies,” Wesley Todd Ball, a lawyer for the parents, told jurors earlier on Friday before they began deliberations on punitive damages.
An attorney for Jones, Federico Andino Reynal, had asked jurors to return a verdict of $270,000 in punitive damages based on the number of hours Infowars devoted to Sandy Hook coverage. Reynal did not immediately respond to a request for comment after the verdict.
The judge admonished Jones during the trial for not telling the truth during his testimony about his bankruptcy and lack of compliance with requests for documents.
Attorney Doug Mirell, a expert in defamation litigation who was not involved in the case, said the question of Jones’s truthfulness on the witness stand could have been a factor in the jury’s award of punitive damages, noting that it is unusual for a jury to award significantly more in punitive than compensatory damages.
“The jury may have simply latched on to their revulsion at the lies and decided Mr. Jones is truly a bad actor,” Mirell told Reuters.
Forensic economist Bernard Pettingill testified on Friday on behalf of Lewis’ parents that Jones “promulgated some hate speech and some misinformation” and “made a lot of money.” Jones and Infowars are worth between $135 million and $270 million combined, Pettingill said.
Jones sought to distance himself from the conspiracy theories during his testimony, apologizing to the parents and acknowledging that Sandy Hook was “100 percent real.”
Jones’ company, Free Speech Systems LLC, declared bankruptcy last week. Jones said during a Monday broadcast that the filing will help the company stay on the air while it appeals. The bankruptcy declaration paused a similar defamation suit by Sandy Hook parents in Connecticut where, as in Texas, he has already been found liable.
During closing arguments on Wednesday, Kyle Farrar, a lawyer for the parents, urged the jury to end what he called their nightmare and hold Jones accountable for profiting off their son’s death. Reynal acknowledged during his closing argument that Jones and Infowars reported “irresponsibly” on Sandy Hook but said his client was not responsible for the harassment.
The plaintiffs also have accused Jones of approaching the trial in bad faith, citing broadcasts in which he said the proceedings were rigged against him and that the jury pool was full of people who “don’t know what planet they’re on.”
The Sandy Hook gunman, Adam Lanza, used a Remington Bushmaster rifle to carry out the massacre. It ended when Lanza killed himself with the approaching sound of police sirens.
Trump ally Alex Jones told to pay $45.2 million more to Sandy Hook massacre victim’s parents
https://arab.news/n2jrr
Trump ally Alex Jones told to pay $45.2 million more to Sandy Hook massacre victim’s parents
- Alex Jones has repeatedly claimed the shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School was a hoax
- 20 schoolchildren and 6 staff were killed in the Dec. 14, 2012, massacre in Newtown, Connecticut
Pakistan vows retaliation saying India fired missiles at five locations
- Military spokesman says Ahmedpur East, Muridke, Bagh, Kotli, Muzaffarabad cities hit, one killed in Bahawalpur, two in Kotli
- Indian military says nine sites targeted from where Apr. 22 attack in Indian-administered Kashmir had been planned
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s military spokesman said on Wednesday India had fired missiles at five locations, vowing that the country would respond to the attacks at a “time and place of its own choosing.”
The development comes amid heightened tensions between the nuclear-armed neighbors in the aftermath of an attack on tourists in Indian-administered Kashmir last month in which 26 men were killed.
India, without providing evidence publicly, has accused Pakistan of involvement in the attack in the hill station of Pahalgam and vowed to respond. Pakistan has denied involvement and several top officials have spoken since of intelligence that India was planning to attack.
“Five places, Kotli, Ahmedpur East, Muzaffarabad, Bagh and Muridke, have been attacked,” Pakistan military spokesperson Lt. Gen. Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry told local broadcaster Geo News.
“Two civilians have been killed in Kotli and one child has been killed and 12 injured in Ahmedpur East.”
Ahmedpur East is a historic city located in the Bahawalpur District of southern Punjab, while Muridke is also located in Punjab. Bagh, Muzaffarabad and Kotli are in Azad Kashmir, which is part of the disputed Himalayan region governed by Pakistan.
Speaking separately to ARY News, Chaudhry said Pakistan had scrambled jets in response to the Indian attacks, adding that no Indian planes had entered Pakistan’s airspace.
“Let me say unequivocally that Pakistan will respond at a time and place of its own choosing to this cowardly attack, this heinous provocation will not go unanswered,” the military spokesman added.
According to an Indian government statement, its armed forces launched “Operation Sindoor,” hitting nine sites in Pakistan and Azad Kashmir from where it said the Pahalgam attack had been “planned and directed.”
No Pakistani military facilities had been targeted, the statement added.
Kashmir has been disputed between India and Pakistan since 1947. Both rule it in part and claim it in full.
India attacks 9 sites in Pakistan, Pakistan-administered Kashmir
MUZAFFARABAD/NEW DELHI: India said it attacked nine sites in Pakistan and Pakistani Kashmir on Wednesday where strikes against it had been planned, and Pakistan reported at least three people died and 12 were injured, according to an initial assessment.
The offensive occurred amid heightened tensions between the nuclear-armed neighbors in the aftermath of an attack on Hindu tourists in Indian Kashmir last month.
Pakistan said India launched missiles at three places, but an Indian government statement did not detail the nature of the strikes.
“A little while ago, the Indian armed forces launched ‘OPERATION SINDOOR’, hitting terrorist infrastructure in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Jammu and Kashmir from where terrorist attacks against India have been planned and directed,” the Indian statement said.
“Our actions have been focused, measured and non-escalatory in nature. No Pakistani military facilities have been targeted. India has demonstrated considerable restraint in selection of targets and method of execution,” it said.
A Pakistani military spokesman told broadcaster Geo that Pakistan’s response was under way, without giving details. The spokesman said five places were hit including two mosques and reported three deaths and 12 people injured.
After the explosions, power was blacked out in Muzaffarabad, the capital of Pakistani Kashmir, witnesses said.
Witnesses and one police officer at two sites on the frontier in Indian Kashmir said they heard loud explosions and intense artillery shelling as well as jets in the air.
India blamed Pakistan for the violence last month in which 26 men were killed and vowed to respond. Pakistan denied that it had anything to do with the killings and said that it had intelligence that India was planning to attack.
After India’s strikes, the Indian army said in a post on X on Wednesday: “Justice is served.”
Germany’s Merz voices ‘concern’ on Gaza, to send foreign minister to Israel
- Friedrich Merz said FM Johann Wadephul would travel to Israel at the weekend and that ‘we are currently preparing this trip together’
- Friedrich Merz: ‘Israel must remain a country that lives up to its humanitarian obligations’
BERLIN: Germany’s new Chancellor Friedrich Merz on Tuesday voiced “considerable concern” about the Gaza conflict and said he would send his foreign minister to Israel this weekend.
The conservative Merz, 69, long a strong supporter of Israel, said that Israel has a right to fight the Palestinian militant group Hamas but must follow international law.
Merz, who took office on Tuesday, said Germany’s new Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul would travel to Israel at the weekend and that “we are currently preparing this trip together.”
Israel’s security cabinet has approved plans for the “conquest” of Gaza, an official said Monday, and Israel’s military has said expanded operations would entail displacing “most” of its residents to the southern part of the territory.
Merz, speaking to public broadcaster ARD, said: “We view the developments of the last few days with considerable concern.”
“Israel has the right to defend itself against the brutal attack by Hamas terrorists on October 7 and everything that followed,” said Merz.
“But Israel must also remain a country that lives up to its humanitarian obligations, especially as this terrible war is raging in the Gaza Strip, where this confrontation with Hamas terrorists is necessarily taking place.”
He added that “it must be clear that the Israeli government must fulfil its obligations under the international law of war and that humanitarian aid in the Gaza Strip must be provided.”
Belarus opens case against a 78-year-old activist who became a symbol of the pro-democracy movement
- Retired geologist Nina Bahinskaya was charged with repeatedly violating Belarus’ laws
- Bahinskaya is one of the most recognizable faces of Belarus’ pro-democracy movement
TALLINN: Authorities in Belarus opened a criminal case against a 78-year-old activist who became the face of the country’s pro-democracy protests in 2020, a rights organization said Tuesday.
Retired geologist Nina Bahinskaya was charged with repeatedly violating Belarus’ laws on holding and organizing protests, Belarus’ Viasna human rights center said.
Authorities accused Bahinskaya of repeatedly walking the streets of the Belarusian capital displaying symbols striped with white, red and white: the same colors used by Belarus’ pro-democracy opposition. If found guilty, the activist faces up to three years in prison.
Bahinskaya is one of the most recognizable faces of Belarus’ pro-democracy movement, which reached its peak during mass protests in the summer of 2020, shortly after the country’s authoritarian leader, Alexander Lukashenko, was declared president for a sixth consecutive term.
Observers widely condemned the vote as rigged. In March, Lukashenko was sworn in to a seventh term.
Bahinskaya’s defiance and caustic tongue quickly has made her a popular opposition figure. When told by police in 2020 that she was violating a government ban on unauthorized demonstrations, she simply responded, “I’m taking a walk” — a snappy reply that was adopted by thousands and chanted at demonstrations.
“I noticed that the riot police more rarely beat protesters when they see elderly people among them,” she told The Associated Press at the time. “So I come out to protest as a defender, an observer and a witness. I’m psychologically and intellectually stronger than the police. Even among those who detained me, there were people who respected me.”
The 2020 protests triggered a wave of police violence from Belarusian security services, and political repression that has engulfed the country of 9.5 million people.
More than 65,000 people have been arrested, thousands have been beaten by police, and independent media and nongovernmental organizations have been shut down and outlawed, prompting condemnation and sanctions from the West.
Belarus holds about 1,200 political prisoners, including Nobel Peace Prize laureate Ales Bialiatski. At least six political prisoners have died in prison, according to human rights activists.
Bahinskaya has been previously detained on multiple occasions, collecting fines totaling 7,200 Belarusian rubles (about $2,400).
As part of the case against her, Bahinskaya was detained in early May and taken for a forced psychiatric examination, Viasna said. In April, UN experts reported that Belarusian authorities had resumed the Soviet practice of forced psychiatric treatment as a punishment for political dissent, and that at least 33 cases of punitive psychiatry had already been recorded against political prisoners.
“Bahinskaya is a symbol of resistance to totalitarianism within the country, and it is important for the authorities to break her,” Viasna representative Pavel Sapelka told the AP. “This is a show case against an elderly person who has dedicated her entire life to the fight for freedom.”
Belarusian opposition leader Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, who lives and works in exile in Lithuania, also condemned the case.
“Today, the regime is still afraid of Nina Bahinskaya’s courage,” Tsikhanouskaya said. “For decades, Nina has stood up to tyranny.”
Putin tells Pezeshkian Russia wants ‘fair’ US-Iran nuclear deal
- The latest round of the talks between Tehran and Washington, initially set for May 3, was postponed, with mediator Oman citing ‘logistical reasons’ for the delay
- Russia has deepened its military and diplomatic ties with Iran since it launched its offensive on Ukraine in February 2022
MOSCOW/TEHRAN: Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday told his Iranian counterpart Masoud Pezeshkian that Moscow wants a “fair” nuclear deal between the US and Iran and was ready to help advance talks, the Kremlin said.
“The Russian side confirmed its readiness to contribute to the promotion of this dialogue with the goal of reaching a fair agreement based on the principles of international law,” the Kremlin said in a readout of a call between the leaders.
The latest round of the talks between Tehran and Washington, initially set for May 3, was postponed, with mediator Oman citing “logistical reasons” for the delay.
The two countries have held three rounds since April 12, their highest-level contact since the US withdrew from a landmark deal with Iran in 2018, during Donald Trump’s first term as president.
Russia has deepened its military and diplomatic ties with Iran since it launched its offensive on Ukraine in February 2022.
The two countries, both under massive Western sanctions, signed a strategic partnership earlier this year.
Most recently, Moscow has sent two planes to help put down a fire after a deadly explosion in Iran’s biggest commercial port.
Russia earlier confirmed its readiness to help find a diplomatic solution to the stand-off between Washington and Tehran, and to play any role in the talks.
A fourth round of talks is likely to take place over the weekend in Muscat, with Iranian state media pointing to May 11 as a probable date.
Cautioning that the timing was not yet finalized, an Iranian source close to the negotiating team said: “The talks will take place over two days in Muscat, either on Saturday and Sunday or Sunday and Monday.”
Top US negotiator Steve Witkoff also said Washington was trying to hold the next round of talks this weekend, according to the news site Axios, a day after Iran’s Foreign Ministry reiterated
US President Donald Trump, who withdrew the US from a 2015 nuclear deal between Iran and world powers, has threatened to bomb Iran if no agreement is reached with his administration to resolve the long-standing dispute.
Western countries say Iran’s nuclear program is geared toward producing weapons, whereas Iran insists it is purely for civilian purposes.
