Pramod Thomas is a senior correspondent with Asian Media Group since 2020, bringing 19 years of journalism experience across business, politics, sports, communities, and international relations. His career spans both traditional and digital media platforms, with eight years specifically focused on digital journalism. This blend of experience positions him well to navigate the evolving media landscape and deliver content across various formats. He has worked with national and international media organisations, giving him a broad perspective on global news trends and reporting standards.
A Bradford Crown Court has held that five men and a woman would face trial for charges including assisting an offender and perverting the course of justice in the brutal murder of Mohammed Feazan Ayaz, reported the BBC.
They have denied helping to cover up the murder in court, the report added. A seventh male defendant did not attend the hearing.
Ayaz, 20, was tortured before his body was found on Saffron Drive, Allerton, on 1 July 2019.
In March last year Raheel Khan, 27, of no fixed abode, was sentenced to serve a minimum of 30 years in jail for the murder of Ayaz.
Suleman Khan, 20, of Sandford Road, Bradford, and Robert Wainwright, 26, of Mannville Terrace, Bradford, were also found guilty of murder and each sentenced to a minimum of 25 years behind bars.
During the trial, jurors heard Ayaz was "systematically and sadistically beaten" at an industrial unit in Halifax Road, Denholme, the report added.
A woman and one of the men charged are accused of an attempt to pervert the course of justice by cleaning the inside of the unit at the Denholme Business Centre.
Three of the men are accused of assisting an offender by enabling a murder suspect to leave the country.
A fifth man is accused of perverting the course of justice by deleting CCTV footage between 30 June 2019 and 3 July 2019.
Those charged in the case are-Waqas Ahmed, 25, Sarfraz Ahmed, 32, Hassan Ali, 26, Iqrab Choudhury, 29, Kaukab Khan, 33 and David Burnett, 39.
The trial would start on 27 June next year and it could last up to four weeks, the BBC report added.
All six defendants who attended court had their unconditional bail extended until the trial date.
The Norwegian Nobel Committee said Machado was honoured for her efforts to promote democratic rights and pursue a peaceful transition from dictatorship to democracy in Venezuela.
Maria Corina Machado awarded 2025 Nobel Peace Prize for promoting democracy in Venezuela
The Nobel Committee praised her courage and fight for peaceful democratic transition
Machado has been in hiding for a year after being barred from contesting Venezuela’s 2024 election
US President Donald Trump had also hoped to win this year’s Peace Prize
VENEZUELA’s opposition leader and democracy activist Maria Corina Machado has been awarded the 2025 Nobel Peace Prize.
The Norwegian Nobel Committee said she was honoured for her efforts to promote democratic rights and pursue a peaceful transition from dictatorship to democracy in Venezuela.
Machado, who has been living in hiding for the past year, was recognised “for her tireless work promoting democratic rights for the people of Venezuela and for her struggle to achieve a just and peaceful transition from dictatorship to democracy,” said Jorgen Watne Frydnes, chair of the Norwegian Nobel Committee, in Oslo.
“I am in shock,” Machado said in a video message sent to AFP by her press team.
Frydnes said Venezuela has changed from a relatively democratic and prosperous country to “a brutal authoritarian state that is now suffering a humanitarian and economic crisis.”
“The violent machinery of the state is directed against the country's own citizens. Nearly eight million people have left the country,” he said.
The opposition has been systematically suppressed through “election rigging, legal prosecution and imprisonment,” Frydnes added.
Machado has been “a key, unifying figure in a political opposition that was once deeply divided,” the committee said. It described her as “one of the most extraordinary examples of civilian courage in Latin America in recent times.”
“Despite serious threats against her life, she has remained in the country, a choice that has inspired millions,” it said.
Machado had been the opposition’s presidential candidate ahead of Venezuela’s 2024 election, but her candidacy was blocked by the government. She then supported former diplomat Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia as her replacement.
Her Nobel win came as a surprise, as her name had not featured among those speculated to receive the award before Friday’s announcement.
Trump’s hopes for prize
US President Donald Trump had expressed his desire to win this year’s Peace Prize. Since returning to the White House in January for a second term, he has repeatedly said he “deserves” the Nobel for his role in resolving several conflicts — a claim observers have disputed.
Experts in Oslo had said before the announcement that Trump was unlikely to win, noting that his “America First” policies run counter to the principles outlined in Alfred Nobel’s 1895 will establishing the prize.
Frydnes said the Norwegian Nobel Committee is not influenced by lobbying campaigns.
“In the long history of the Nobel Peace Prize, I think this committee has seen every type of campaign, media attention,” he said. “We receive thousands and thousands of letters every year of people wanting to say, what for them, leads to peace.” “We base our decision only on the work and the will of Alfred Nobel,” he added.
Last year, the prize went to the Japanese anti-nuclear group Nihon Hidankyo, a grassroots organisation of atomic bomb survivors from Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
The Nobel Peace Prize includes a gold medal, a diploma, and a cash award of $1.2 million. It will be presented at a ceremony in Oslo on December 10, the anniversary of Alfred Nobel’s death in 1896.
The Peace Prize is the only Nobel awarded in Oslo. Other Nobel Prizes are presented in Stockholm.
On Thursday, the Nobel Prize in Literature was awarded to Hungarian author Laszlo Krasznahorkai. The 2025 Nobel season concludes Monday with the announcement of the economics prize.
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