LONDON: British Prime Minister Keir Starmer on Thursday rejected Donald Trump’s recent assertion that there was a push to apply Islamic Sharia law in London, calling it “nonsense” and defending London Mayor Sadiq Khan in rare criticism of the US president.

Trump earlier this week at the United Nations delivered a sweeping criticism of immigration policies in Europe. He singled out the UK capital, saying “now they want to go to Sharia law” and calling Khan a “terrible, terrible mayor”.

“The idea of the introduction of Sharia law is nonsense and Sadiq Khan is a very good man,” Starmer told ITV London. He added that there are few things he disagrees with Trump on, “but I’m very clear, this is one of them”.

Khan, who represents Starmer’s centre-left Labour Party, in 2016 became the first Muslim to be elected mayor of London. He has since won two more mayoral elections and has the largest personal mandate of any British politician.

The US president’s comments at the General Assembly were the latest in a long-running public feud between Trump and Khan that goes back to at least 2017, when Khan criticised Trump for pledging a travel ban on a number of majority-Muslim countries.

Starmer, a technocrat and a self-proclaimed socialist, and Trump, a proudly unpredictable Republican, have generally overcome their differences to develop a good working relationship.

Trump’s criticism on Tuesday came only a week after he hailed the US-British relationship during an unprecedented second state visit to Britain that involved royal pomp, including a carriage tour and a white-tie banquet.

Khan responded to Trump’s comments this week by accusing him of being “racist, sexist, misogynistic and Islamophobic.” He pointed to data that shows a record number of Americans are settling in Britain.

Former French president Nicolas Sarkozy will soon be imprisoned after he was sentenced to five years in jail on Thursday by a court that found him guilty of criminal conspiracy over dealings with Libya, an unprecedented punishment for a leading French political figure.

The sentence was harsher than many expected, and a first in modern French political history. Sarkozy, who was president between 2007-2012, will spend time in jail even if he appeals the ruling.

As he exited the courtroom, Sarkozy expressed his anger at the ruling. “What happened today … is of extreme gravity in regard to the rule of law, and for the trust one can have in the justice system,” he told reporters.

“If they absolutely want me to sleep in jail, I will sleep in jail, but with my head held high,” he said, adding that he was innocent and that the ruling was scandalous.

Sarkozy was found guilty of criminal conspiracy over efforts by close aides to procure funds for his 2007 presidential bid from Libya during the rule of late dictator Muammar Gaddafi.

He was acquitted by the Paris court of all other charges, including corruption and receiving illegal campaign financing.

Sarkozy will go to jail

However, the jail sentence is enforceable immediately, with the judge saying Sarkozy would have just a short period to put his affairs in order before prosecutors call on him to head to jail. That should happen within a month.

Sarkozy, who has always denied the charges, was accused of making a deal with Gaddafi in 2005, when he was France’s interior minister, to obtain campaign financing in exchange for supporting the then-isolated Libyan government on the international stage.

The judge said there was no proof that Sarkozy made such a deal with Gaddafi, nor that money that was sent from Libya reached Sarkozy’s campaign coffers, even if the timing was “compatible” and the paths the money went through were “very opaque”.

But she said Sarkozy was guilty of criminal conspiracy for having let close aides get in touch with people in Libya to try to obtain campaign financing.

The 70-year-old has been on trial since January, in a case he said was politically motivated.

The court found him guilty of criminal conspiracy between 2005 and 2007. After that, he was president and covered by presidential immunity, the court added.

That was the second time this year that a court handed down a ruling with immediate effect on a major political figure.

A court convicted far-right leader Marine Le Pen in March of embezzling EU funds, handing her an immediate five-year ban on running for office.

Sarkozy’s legal woes

Despite his legal battles, and having his Legion of Honour, France’s highest distinction, stripped in June, Sarkozy remains an influential figure on the French political stage.

He recently met with his former protege, Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu, and has also lent credibility to Le Pen’s National Rally (RN), saying the far-right, anti-immigrant party now forms part of the “republican arc.”

Sarkozy has faced several legal battles since leaving office.

Last year, France’s highest court upheld his conviction for corruption and influence peddling, ordering him to wear an electronic tag for a year, a first for a former French head of state. The tag has now been removed.

Also last year, an appeals court confirmed a separate conviction for illegal campaign financing over his failed re-election bid in 2012. A final ruling from France’s highest court is expected on that case next month.

• Protesters torch police vehicle, Bharatiya Janata Party offices.
• Protests organised in solidarity with activist Sonam Wangchuk.
• Modi government split Ladakh off from IIOJK in 2019.

Indian police patrolled the northern city of Leh on Thursday, a day after protests demanding greater autonomy for the Himalayan territory of occupied Ladakh turned deadly when security forces opened fire.

At least five people were killed and about 100 wounded, including 30 police officers.

The city — usually bustling with tourists — appeared deserted, with most main roads blocked by coils of razor wire and guarded by police in riot gear, an AFP reporter said.

A doctor at Leh’s SNM Hospital said they had treated about 100 injured people since Wednesday, some of them police.

“We have operated upon six injured people, three of them had bullet injuries and others internal bleeding in the chest and broken ribs,” said the doctor, who asked not to be identified.

Protests erupted on Wednesday, with crowds demanding greater autonomy in the sparsely populated, high-altitude desert region that is home to some 300,000 people and which borders China and Pakistan.

India’s Ministry of Home Affairs said that an “unruly mob” had attacked police, reporting in a statement issued late on Wednesday that “more than 30” officers were injured.

Protesters torched a police vehicle and the offices of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Hindu-nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), while officers fired tear gas and used batons to disperse crowds.

“In self-defence, police had to resort to firing, in which unfortunately some casualties are reported,” the statement said. It did not give any details about deaths.

However, a police officer told AFP that “five deaths were reported after the protests”. The officer spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorised to talk to journalists.

Thinley, 33, who runs an automobile spare parts shop in Leh, was shot in the leg.

“We are exhausted by the government by not listening to our demands”, Thinley, who gave only one name, told AFP from his hospital bed.

Jigmet Stanzin, 23, said he was injured when he tried to throw back what he thought was a tear gas canister.

“It exploded and shattered my hand,” he said.

‘Betrayed and angry’

A police unit guarded the vandalised BJP office on Thursday, alongside the wreckage of a burned security vehicle.

Paras Pandey, 27, an Indian tourist, walked alone along the highway out of Leh with a heavy backpack, looking for a ride out.

“Everything is shut. I couldn’t get food since yesterday,” Paras said. “All I could see yesterday was chaos, smoke, and broken vehicles.”

Around half of Ladakh’s residents are Muslim and about 40% are Buddhist.

It is classed as a “Union Territory” — meaning it elects lawmakers to India’s parliament but is governed directly by New Delhi.

Wednesday’s demonstrations were organised in solidarity with prominent activist Sonam Wangchuk, who had been on hunger strike demanding either full federal statehood for Ladakh or constitutional protections for its tribal communities, land and fragile environment.

New Delhi said the protests were “instigated by his provocative speeches” and pointed out that efforts were continuing to discuss its governance.

Modi’s government split Ladakh off from Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir in 2019, imposing direct rule on both.

New Delhi has yet to fulfil its promise to include Ladakh in the “Sixth Schedule” of India’s constitution, which allows people to make their own laws and policies.

Omar Abdullah, chief minister of IIOJK, said people in Ladakh felt “betrayed and angry”.

India’s army maintains a large presence in occupied Ladakh, which includes disputed border areas with China. Troops from the two countries clashed there in 2020, killing at least 20 Indian and four Chinese soldiers.