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Christchurch gunman seeks to appeal convictions and withdraw guilty plea

The Australian white supremacist who murdered 51 Muslim worshippers at two mosques in Christchurch in 2019, in the worst mass shooting in the New Zealand’s history, has asked a court to discard his guilty pleas, claiming harsh prison conditions had affected his mental health and compelled him to admit to the crimes. Brenton Tarrant pleaded guilty in March 2020 to 51 counts of murder, 40 counts of attempted murder and a terrorism charge, after initially saying he would defend the charges. In August 2020, Tarrant became the first person in New Zealand under current laws to be sentenced to life in prison without the chance of ever walking free. But in 2022 he filed an appeal at the court of appeal, for both his convictions and his sentence. The court will consider whether the appeal can proceed because it was filed outside the legislated time frame to do so. The 35-year-old gave evidence via video link on 9 February, as part of a week-long hearing in Wellington. In front of a panel of three judges, Tarrant said his mental health had deteriorated due to conditions in prison, where he was held in solitary confinement, with limited reading material or contact with other prisoners. He said he was suffering “nervous exhaustion” by the time he entered his guilty pleas, and he had admitted to the crimes just months before his trial was due to begin because he felt there was “little else I could do”. Crown lawyer Barnaby Hawes challenged Tarrant, suggesting there was little evidence he had been in serious mental crisis. Hawes said Tarrant had other options, including delaying his trial date on mental health grounds, or defending himself at trial. Tarrant, a self-declared white supremacist, said he had masked his mental illness, partly driven by the “political movement I’m a part of”. He said he had made a late application because he had not had access to the information required to make it. According to court documents, the court will be primarily considering the application to vacate the guilty pleas. “The central issue before the court will be whether at the time Mr Tarrant entered his guilty pleas he was incapable of making rational decisions as a result of the conditions of his imprisonment, which he says were torturous and inhumane,” it said. The judges are expected to release a decision at a later date. If the court grants the application to vacate the pleas, the case will be sent back to the high court for the terrorist to stand trial. If it declines the application then a further hearing will consider the sentence appeal later this year Security has been ramped up at the court, with only media, counsel and authorised people permitted to attend the hearing inside the courtroom. Limited space for the public has been made in an adjoining room, while provision has been made for victims and family members to view the hearing in Christchurch via a delayed broadcast. Tarrant’s legal counsel have been granted permanent name suppression. Aya Al-Umari, whose brother Hussein al-Umari was murdered at Masjid al-Noor, told The Post the hearing made her uncomfortable and listening to Tarrant give evidence for the first time would be difficult. “For the sake of my sanity … I have to think of them as just words with absolutely no meaning behind them,” she said. “But at the same time it is reopening a wound that you try so hard to close and try and move forward with life.” Tarrant moved to New Zealand in 2017 planning to carrying out a white supremacist attack. He planned the mass shooting for months, conducted reconnaissance at the mosques, distributed a manifesto expressing his racist views before he opened fire, and livestreamed part of the assault on Facebook. In the wake of the attacks, the former Jacinda Ardern-led government banned military-style semi-automatic rifles and created a firearms registry. An inquiry into the attacks is the largest coronial investigation New Zealand has seen and is still under way. In October 2025, the high court left the door open for Tarrant to be called as a witness at the inquest, despite objections from survivors and families of the victims. Associated Press contributed to this report

Jimmy Lai sentencing – as it happened

We are going to end our live coverage of Jimmy Lai’s sentencing now. Thanks for following along. You can read our full report of the day here:

Jimmy Lai, Hong Kong pro-democracy figure, sentenced to 20 years in prison for national security offences

Jimmy Lai, the media mogul and prominent pro-democracy activist, has been sentenced to 20 years in prison in Hong Kong for national security offences, a punishment his daughter said could mean “he will die a martyr behind bars”. Claire Lai said the sentence was “heartbreakingly cruel” given her 78-year-old father’s declining health, while her brother Sebastien Lai called the sentence “draconian” and “devastating”. The sentencing is the culmination of a years-long saga that critics say represents Hong Kong’s transformation from a mostly free city to one where dissent is fiercely suppressed by the Chinese Communist party-controlled authorities. Lai was convicted in December on charges of sedition and conspiracy to collude with foreign forces. He had pleaded not guilty to all charges. The collusion convictions carry a maximum penalty of life imprisonment. Lai’s sentence was immediately condemned by Taiwan, as well as press freedom and human rights groups. Reporters Without Borders said: “Today, the curtain falls on press freedom in Hong Kong … This court decision underscores the complete collapse of press freedom in Hong Kong and the authorities’ profound contempt for independent journalism.” Human Rights Watch also put out a statement calling the length of jail time given to Lai “effectively a death sentence”. “A sentence of this magnitude is both cruel and profoundly unjust. Lai’s years of persecution show the Chinese government’s determination to crush independent journalism and silence anyone who dares to criticise the Communist party,” the statement said. Amnesty International called the case “another grim milestone in Hong Kong’s transformation from a city governed by the rule of law to one ruled by fear”. Lai’s prosecution has been described as politically motivated by human rights groups and the British government, which has called for his release. On Friday, Chinese state media described Lai, a British citizen who has lived in Hong Kong since he fled China as a child refugee, as an “anti-government instigator and traitor”. Lai is the founder of the now defunct Apple Daily, a popular Hong Kong newspaper that supported the pro-democracy movement that swelled in the city in the 2010s. The movement was crushed in June 2020 by the imposition of a harsh national security law which criminalised most forms of dissent. Lai was arrested and charged under that law in August that year. Apple Daily was forced to close in 2021. The UK prime minister Keir Starmer said that he raised Lai’s case when he met China’s leader, Xi Jinping, in Beijing in January. But it is not clear what, if any, progress the UK has made towards securing Lai’s release. Lai’s son, Sebastien Lai, said recently that the UK government had not done enough for his father and that “time is running out”. The US president, Donald Trump, has also said that he would secure Lai’s release. There are increasing concerns about Lai’s health and wellbeing in prison. His family said that he has suffered dramatic weight loss and that he teeth have rotted. He has been behind bars since December 2020 and has spent most of that time in solitary confinement. Hong Kong authorities say Lai has received appropriate medical care and that he requested to be kept separate from other prisoners. After Monday’s sentencing, Steve Li, the chief superintendent of the police National Security Department, said the sentence was “appropriate” and alleged that claims about Lai’s frail health were “exaggerated”. Lai was sentenced along with eight other co-defendants – two activists and six former executives from Lai’s media company – in the landmark national security trial, all of whom pleaded guilty. Lai’s trial was presided over by three judges handpicked by the government to hear national security cases. In their 855-page judgment convicting him, the judges said that Lai was “a very savvy business man” and that it was “unfortunate that his deep resentment and hatred for the Chinese Communist party … led him down a thorny path”. The judges said that Lai was someone who was “keen on tearing down the CCP”. Lai was accused of using Apple Daily and political connections, particularly in the US, to lobby for foreign governments to impose sanctions on China and Hong Kong after the crackdown on pro-democracy protests in 2019 and 2020. Lai said he never called for sanctions after the national security law had taken effect, as “it would be suicidal to do so”.

Ukraine war briefing: Zelenskyy says Russian energy sites are legitimate targets

Russian energy infrastructure is a legitimate target for Ukrainian strikes because the energy sector is a source of funds for the production of weapons, Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said. “We do not have to choose – whether we strike a military target or energy … it’s the same thing,” the Ukrainian president said on X on Sunday. “We either build weapons and strike their weapons. Or we strike the source where their money is generated and multiplied. And that source is their energy sector … All of this is a legitimate target for us.” Russia has targeted Ukraine’s energy grid in a campaign of attacks that has been called Moscow’s weaponisation of winter. Authorities in Dubai have arrested and handed over to Russia a man suspected of shooting and wounding a senior officer in Russia’s intelligence services, according to Moscow’s security service. Rory Carroll and Pjotr Sauer report that Sunday’s announcement came two days after a gunman shot Lt Gen Vladimir Alekseyev on the stairwell of his Moscow apartment, leaving him in a critical condition. The federal security service (FSB) said a Russian citizen was detained in Dubai on suspicion of carrying out the shooting. Television images showed masked FSB officers escorting a blindfolded man from a jet in Russia in the dark. The FSB said it had also identified two “accomplices”, one of whom was detained in Moscow and another who “left for Ukraine”. Zelenskyy said the US had given Ukraine and Russia yet another deadline to reach a peace settlement and was now proposing the war should end by June, reports Donna Ferguson. The Ukrainian president also hinted that the new deadline could be linked to Trump’s US midterm elections campaign. Zelenskyy told reporters that both Ukraine and Russia had been invited to further talks this week. A Russian airstrike on a residential area in eastern Ukraine killed one person and wounded two, officials said on Sunday. The attack on the city of Kramatorsk in Ukraine’s Donetsk region caused a fire in a nine-story apartment block, according to Ukraine’s State Emergency Service. Russia also struck energy infrastructure in Ukraine’s Poltava region overnight into Sunday, Ukraine’s state-owned gas company Naftogaz said. Kyiv’s foreign minister said the Ukrainian and Russian leaders needed to meet in person to hash out the hardest remaining issues in peace talks, and that only the US president had the power to bring about an agreement. “Only Trump can stop the war,” Andrii Sybiha told Reuters. From the 20-point peace plan that has formed the basis of recent trilateral negotiations, only “a few” items remained outstanding, Sybiha said. “The most sensitive and most difficult, to be dealt with at the leaders’ level.” Zelenskyy said he was imposing sanctions on some foreign manufacturers of components for Russian drones and missiles which it uses against Ukraine. “Producing this weaponry would be impossible without critical foreign components, which the Russians continue to obtain by circumventing sanctions,” he said on X.

Sanae Takaichi’s conservatives cement power in landslide Japan election win

Japan’s conservative governing coalition has dramatically strengthened its grip on power after a landslide victory in Sunday’s elections in what will be seen as an early public endorsement of the new prime minister, Sanae Takaichi. Her Liberal Democratic party (LDP) had won 316 seats by early Monday, comfortably surpassing the 261 it needed for an absolute majority in the 465-member lower house and the highest number since the party was founded in 1955. With her coalition partner, the Japan Innovation party, which won 36 seats, Takaichi now has a supermajority of two-thirds of seats, easing her legislative agenda as she can override the upper chamber, which she does not control. A smiling Takaichi placed a red ribbon above each winner’s name on a signboard at the LDP’s headquarters as party executives applauded. The 64-year-old, who called a snap election soon after becoming Japan’s first female prime minister last autumn, had vowed to resign if her coalition failed to secure a simple majority in the vote, which was held on a freezing day when many parts of the country were again hit by heavy snow. She will not, however, have long to savour her party’s victory. There are concerns over her management of Japan’s public finances and her ability to defuse a bitter row with China over the future of Taiwan. Takaichi sought to appeal to voters with a 21tn yen (£99bn) stimulus package aimed at easing the cost of living crisis, later promising to suspend the 8% consumption (sales) tax on food for two years – a 5tn-yen hit to annual revenue. Her spending plans have rattled financial markets and caused currency volatility, prompting some commentators to question her approach given that Japan’s debt is more than twice the size of its gross domestic product – the heaviest debt burden of any advanced economy. Speaking as exit polls showed her party cruising to victory, Takaichi, an admirer of Margaret Thatcher, said: “We have consistently stressed the importance of responsible and proactive fiscal policy. We will prioritise the sustainability of fiscal policy. We will ensure necessary investments. Public and private sectors must invest. We will build a strong and resilient economy.” After a whirlwind introduction to diplomacy – including meetings with Donald Trump and Xi Jinping late last year – Takaichi sparked a row with Beijing in November when she suggested Japan could become involved militarily in the event of a Chinese attempt to invade Taiwan. China urged tourists not to visit Japan – advice they have heeded – and young people not to study there, citing “safety concerns”. The dispute has disrupted cultural exchanges and even brought an end to decades of “panda diplomacy”. Takaichi’s refusal to withdraw her remarks may have angered Beijing, but it has played well with many voters. Trump congratulated Takaichi on her election win, wishing her “great success in passing your Conservative, Peace Through Strength Agenda” in a social media post. Margarita Estévez-Abe, an associate professor of political science at Syracuse University, said Sunday’s victory could give Takaichi room to repair the damage to Sino-Japanese ties. “Now she doesn’t have to worry about any elections until 2028, when the next upper house elections will take place,” Estévez-Abe said. “So the best scenario for Japan is that Takaichi kind of takes a deep breath and focuses on amending the relationship with China.” But if she follows through with the consumption tax cut, the market reaction could be swift and hostile, according to some analysts. Takaichi’s big victory means she will have more political room to follow through on key commitments such as consumption-tax cuts, said Seiji Inada, the managing director at the consultancy FGS Global. “Markets could react in the following days, and the yen could come under renewed pressure.” Blizzard conditions in some regions made visiting a polling station in Sunday’s election, the first held in mid-winter for 35 years, a test of endurance for many voters. Kazushige Cho, a 54-year-old teacher, said he had been determined to vote for the LDP despite the atrocious weather. “She [Takaichi] has shown strong leadership and pushes various policies forward,” Cho said outside a polling station in a small town in Niigata prefecture where the snow had reached a depth of more than 2 metres. “I think things could turn out quite well.” The weather caused widespread disruption on Sunday, halting services on dozens of train lines and forcing the cancellation of 230 domestic flights, according to the transport ministry. The estimated voter turnout was 55.6%, according to NHK – up from 53.8% in the previous lower house election in 2024. The broadcaster said more than 27 million people had cast their votes early. Takaichi’s personal popularity – particularly among younger voters – has transformed the LDP’s fortunes since winning the race to succeed Shigeru Ishiba as the party’s president in October. Under Ishiba, the LDP and its then coalition partner, Komeito, lost their majorities in both houses of parliament amid public anger over a slush fund scandal and the rising cost of food and other basics. The LDP, which has governed Japan for most of the past 70 years, was helped, as in previous elections, by a fractured and uninspiring opposition. The main opposition Centrist Reform Alliance, which was formed weeks before by two existing parties, was projected to sink to half of their combined pre-election share of 167 seats, leaving questions hanging over its future.

Thai PM’s party on track to win election in blow to pro-democracy camp

The party of the Thai prime minister Anutin Charnvirakul, a staunch royalist and shrewd political dealmaker, is on track to win the most seats in Sunday’s election after a disappointing night for his rivals in the youthful, pro-democracy People’s party. “We are likely to take first place in the election,” the 59-year-old told reporters at the headquarters for his Bhumjaithai party in Bangkok. “The victory today belongs to all Thais, no matter whether you voted for us or not,” he said. Bhumjaithai, which is seen as the preferred choice of Thailand’s powerful military royalist establishment, had taken a big lead with more than half of votes counted, and Thai TV channels projected it would be by far the largest in parliament. Natthaphong Ruengpanyawut, 38, leader of the People’s party, conceded defeat, telling supporters at the party’s headquarters: “Even though we cannot establish a government today, I want everyone to keep walking, keep going and don’t give up. Let’s keep fighting. As long as we still have each other, the power will belong to the people, for sure.” The People’s party had been leading polls ahead of the election, but with more than half of votes counted on Sunday night it was in second place, with Pheu Thai, the party linked to the now imprisoned former populist leader Thaksin Shinawatra, third. The result is a major blow to Thailand’s pro-democracy camp, which won the most seats and votes in the last election but was blocked from power by rivals in the military royalist establishment. Two previous iterations of the party were dissolved and its leaders banned from politics in rulings by the constitutional court, which frequently intervenes in Thai politics. The People’s party has a loyal support base among young and urban Thais who want reforms to make Thailand, which has a history of military coups, more democratic. Anutin has been prime minister since September, taking office after Paetongtarn Shinawatra was removed for an ethics violation connected to her handling of a border dispute with Cambodia. He dissolved parliament in December to call a new election when he was threatened with a no-confidence vote, and just as conflict with Cambodia had re-erupted. He has sought to present himself as the only leader committed to protecting Thailand’s territory, riding a wave of nationalism prompted by the border conflict. Bhumjaitai pledged to build a wall across the border, and to offer an incentive of 15,000 baht (£350) a month to those volunteering for the armed forces. At a recent campaign rally he said that if Thai people wanted a government “chosen by Cambodia” they should vote for his rivals. The People’s party, which has long campaigned for the army to be more accountable, was accused of being anti-military – a position it rejected. Dr Napon Jatusripitak, a visiting fellow at ISEAS–Yusof Ishak Institute, said Bhumjaithai had been uniquely placed to benefit from such nationalism. It had also succeeded in leveraging its links with powerful political families that are able to deliver votes, balancing this by appointing “a front-facing layer of technocrats”, he said. “This arrangement allowed the party to stay anchored in patronage politics while broadening its appeal to conservative voters who might otherwise find this traditional style of politics unpalatable.” Bhumjaithai had, Napon said, positioned itself as a force for stability at a time when many voters were wary of the political disruption associated with sweeping structural reform. Anutin, the son of a former cabinet minister, comes from a family that owns one of Thailand’s biggest construction companies, responsible for some high-profile developments including Bangkok’s main airport. He did not comment when asked what a future cabinet would look like. At the headquarters for the People’s party, where supporters had turned out to watch results, the mood was glum on Sunday night. Kanawat Sombunpot, 27, an accountant, said she was heartbroken, and believed Anutin had benefited from nationalism linked to the war with Cambodia. It was hard to think of what the People’s party could do differently, she said, adding that it had already dropped its policy to amend Thailand’s lese-majesty law, under which criticism of the monarchy can lead to up to 15 years in prison. “If [the party] adapts any more it will be grey and the same as other parties,” said Kunawut Watcharapitchaiyakul, 26, who works in marketing and had come to watch the results at the party’s headquarters. The People’s party had pledged to fight corruption and differentiated itself by promising major reforms to make the country more democratic, break up big monopolies and modernise the education system. Kunawut questioned whether some members of the public had taken issue with the People’s party’s past decisions, especially where it appeared to put ideology or a clean image over pragmatism. However, he said he believed this approach would benefit the party in the long term by building trust. “It’s going to take time,” he said. “Maybe 10 years.” “I won’t give up,” he added. “But I’m tired.” Agence France-Presse contributed to this report

Treaties to limit the proliferation of nuclear weapons are failing | Letters

Simon Tisdall is absolutely right (China is leading the charge to nuclear Armageddon – and Starmer barely noticed, 1 February). From our prime minister to the person in the street, no one is talking about nuclear weapons, yet nuclear weapons states are busy modernising their arsenals and, in China’s case, increasing the numbers. Treaties supposed to limit nuclear proliferation have failed or are failing. Concern about this in civil society is minimal, and in parliament only a few of us address it as a matter of urgency. I can understand that climate change, AI, Gaza and Ukraine are all issues of pressing and immense concern. In recent decades, the incidence of false alarms has brought the world to the brink of nuclear war more than once. The nuclear-non proliferation treaty review conference will take place in April this year. The last two NPTs have largely failed; this time world leaders, including our prime minister, must ensure that at the very least the trajectory is changed from the current one. The goal of a world without nuclear weapons is vanishingly far away. But there are diplomatic and practical steps that could make us all much safer. Sue Miller Liberal Democrat, House of Lords; co-president, Parliamentarians for Nuclear Non-Proliferation and Disarmament

Russia says man suspected of shooting general detained in Dubai

Authorities in Dubai have arrested and handed over to Russia a man suspected of shooting and wounding a senior officer in Russia’s intelligence services, according to Moscow’s security service. The announcement on Sunday came two days after a gunman shot Lt Gen Vladimir Alekseyev three times on the stairwell of his Moscow apartment, leaving him in a critical condition. The Federal Security Service (FSB) said a Russian citizen, Lyubomir Korba, was detained in Dubai on suspicion of carrying out the shooting. Television images showed masked FSB officers escorting a blindfolded man from a small jet in Russia in the dark. In a statement on its website, the FSB said it had also identified two “accomplices”, one of whom was detained in Moscow and another who “left for Ukraine”. Investigators said Ukrainian intelligence agents had tasked Korba, who was born in 1960 in the Ternopil region of Soviet Ukraine, with carrying out Friday’s shooting, which was done with a Makarov pistol equipped with a silencer at an apartment complex seven miles north of the Kremlin. No party has claimed responsibility for the attack on Alekseyev, 64, but Russia’s foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, called it a “terrorist attack” and claimed without evidence that it had been intended to derail talks between Russia, Ukraine and the US to end the war. Authorities in the UAE believe the attack was orchestrated by Ukraine, according to a source with direct knowledge of their thinking. Vladimir Putin thanked the UAE’s president on Saturday for assistance in the detention of a suspect linked to the attack, the Kremlin said. Ukrainian intelligence agencies have targeted dozens of Russian military officers and Russian-installed officials since the start of the war, accusing them of involvement in war crimes. However, Ukraine’s foreign minister, Andrii Sybiha, said Ukraine had had nothing to do with the shooting of Aleseyev and suggested it was the result of Russian “in-fighting”. Ukrainian-born Alekseyev is a deputy director of Russia’s military intelligence agency, the GRU, a unit in the defence ministry known for organising covert operations abroad, including assassinations, sabotage and espionage. He was one of the top officers providing Putin with intelligence for the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022. He has been widely described as a major figure overseeing the country’s private military companies and was among the senior officials dispatched to negotiate with Yevgeny Prigozhin during the Wagner group’s brief mutiny in the summer of 2023. After Prigozhin’s revolt, Alekseyev was widely believed to have fallen out of favour in Moscow and was reported to have been detained briefly over his links to Wagner, yet he ultimately retained his post. The lieutenant general is under sanctions from Washington for his alleged involvement in efforts to interfere in the 2020 US presidential election. The UK also placed sanctions on him over the deadly 2018 novichok nerve agent attack in Salisbury. Moscow has released few details about Alekseyev’s condition since he was taken to hospital, but a source with knowledge of his health said the general was expected to recover. The commander of Ukraine’s Azov regiment, Denys Prokopenko, wrote on X that if Alekseyev survived, he would never sleep peacefully again. He added: “No war criminal who has killed and tortured Ukrainian soldiers and civilians, destroyed Ukrainian cities, abducted Ukrainian children or committed other crimes against the Ukrainian people will ever feel safe.” The assassination attempt came a day after Russian and Ukrainian delegations, including Alekseyev’s direct superior, Igor Kostyukov, met in Abu Dhabi, where both sides spoke of apparent progress in the peace talks. Previous peace efforts have broken down over Russia’s maximalist territorial demands on Ukraine, with Moscow repeatedly rejecting Kyiv’s calls for an immediate ceasefire. The Trump administration has instructed both sides to end the war by June, Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said. Ukraine has targeted at least three Russian generals in the Moscow region over the past year, though such operations have typically involved explosives. Alekseyev’s shooting was seen as the latest failure of Russia’s security services to protect senior military personnel within Russia. While details of who carried out the attack remain unclear, Russian military bloggers have criticised apparent security lapses and questioned how a gunman was able to enter the apartment building undetected.