Prominent Shia clerics say Sheikh Qassim trial invalid and illegal

Here is a round-up of global news developments:

• Prominent Shia clerics in Bahrain have slammed the trial of top cleric Sheikh Isa Qassim. In a statement, a group of Shia scholars said the trial of a top cleric is trying a sect, its practices, laws and authority. They denounced the trial as invalid, and unconstitutional.
• Medical Charity Doctors Without Borders has called for international aid for Yemeni patients. MSF says people in Yemen are suffering from hemophilia and kidney failure due to shortage of medicines. Yemen is facing shortage of basic supplies due to the ongoing Saudi war and blockade.
• The Deash terrorist group has claimed responsibility for the terrorist attack on a church in the north of France that left one priest dead. French President Francois Hollande condemned the attack and vowed to wage a war against the ISIL terrorists by all means.
• Paris prosecutor Francois Molins says one of the two assailants who attacked a church in northern France was arrested two times in 2015 on his way to Syria. The attacker was identified as 19-year-old Adel Kermiche. French police are still trying to identify the second man.
• Police in Canada have launched a probe into the death of a mentally-ill Somali man in the capital Ottawa. The 37-year-old man died following police use of excessive force on Monday. Witnesses say the police hit him with a baton and used pepper spray to arrest him.
• US former secretary of state Hillary Clinton has clinched the Democratic Party’s nomination for the presidential race. This comes after the majority of the delegates, attending the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia, voted in her favor. She will face Republican nominee Donald Trump in November presidential election.
• Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Chavush-oglu has called on the United States to extradite opposition figure Fethullah Gulen to face justice. Ankara accuses Gulen of orchestrating the failed coup on July 15. Gulen however denies any involvement in the attempted coup.
• Heavy clashes between rival groups in South Sudan have forced over 37,000 people to flee their homes and go to neighboring Uganda over the last three weeks. Eyewitnesses say facilities on the Ugandan side are overwhelmed with the sheer size of the influx.

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