The charges announced by U.S. authorities on Wednesday intensified tensions between Washington and Havana and prompted criticism from Beijing, which reaffirmed support for Cuba’s sovereignty and opposition to foreign interference.

“The U.S. side should stop brandishing the sanctions stick and the judicial stick against Cuba and stop threatening force at every turn,” Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Guo Jiakun told a regular press briefing in Beijing.

“China firmly supports Cuba in safeguarding its national sovereignty and national dignity and opposes external interference,” Guo said.

The indictment against Castro, 94, includes charges of conspiracy to kill Americans and destruction of aircraft linked to the 1996 shooting down of two planes operated by anti-Castro activists, an incident that killed four people.

Castro, the younger brother of late Cuban revolutionary leader Fidel Castro, led Cuba from 2008 until 2018 after decades as one of the country’s most powerful political figures.

U.S. President Donald Trump described the indictment as a “very big moment” on Wednesday but downplayed suggestions of immediate action against the Cuban government.

The development comes as Cuba faces a prolonged economic crisis marked by fuel shortages, inflation and declining foreign currency reserves, conditions Havana has blamed in part on longstanding U.S. sanctions and restrictions.

China has maintained close political and economic ties with Cuba and has consistently criticized Washington’s sanctions policy toward the island nation.

The three-judge panel dismissed Tarrant’s claim that harsh prison conditions and poor mental health had caused him to plead guilty involuntarily in March 2020, concluding there was no evidence he had suffered from a mental impairment that affected his legal judgment.

“He was not suffering from a mental impairment or any other form of mental incapacity which rendered him unable to voluntarily change his pleas to guilty,” the judges wrote in their decision.

The court said the Australian national, now 35, had attempted to mislead judges about his mental state in what it described as “a weak attempt to advance an appeal,” adding that evidence showed he had made an informed and rational decision when he admitted guilt.

Tarrant carried out the attacks in March 2019, driving to two mosques in Christchurch during Friday prayers and opening fire with semiautomatic weapons, killing 51 people and injuring dozens more in New Zealand’s deadliest modern mass shooting.

His guilty pleas a year later spared victims’ families and survivors from a lengthy public trial, which many feared would give him a platform to spread extremist views.The appeal court noted that Tarrant’s bid to challenge those pleas was filed 505 days after the legal deadline, but it proceeded to hear the matter because of its public significance.

During a five-day hearing in February, Tarrant argued that “irrationality” caused by poor mental health had temporarily led him to abandon his white supremacist ideology and plead guilty.

The judges rejected that argument, saying prison staff, mental health professionals and his former lawyers did not support his claims. They also noted that he had accepted the summary of facts presented by police and the sentencing judge, while the evidence against him was overwhelming.

That evidence included video footage of the attack that Tarrant filmed himself and livestreamed online, clearly showing his face, as well as a manifesto outlining his racist ideology that he published under his real name before the shootings.

The ruling also disclosed that Tarrant sought to abandon the appeal shortly after presenting his case in February, but judges refused, saying the matter was of “significant public interest and should be finally determined.”They said he appeared to conclude the hearing was not going in his favor and then attempted to withdraw the case after proceedings ended.

Tarrant was sentenced in August 2020 to life imprisonment without parole, the first such sentence in New Zealand’s history. He remains in Auckland Prison.The judges allowed him to abandon a separate appeal against that sentence, which had been scheduled to be heard later in 2026.

Pittard and Allende were threatened at gunpoint by Al-Thani when they refused his orders in September 2017 to murder two unnamed Americans

A Florida attorney accused Qatari Sheikh Khaled Al-Thani, the playboy race-car driver and brother of Qatar’s equally powerful Emir, Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani, of hiding and refusing to face charges he threatened to kill two former American employees who refused his orders to murder a critic.

Attorney Rebecca Castaneda filed a motion on Friday in the Tampa, Florida Middle District Court accusing Al-Thani of “evading service.” Castaneda asked Federal Judge Thomas P. Barber to give her more time to serve legal documents to Al-Thani requiring him to appear in court, in person, and to provide a deposition of his response to the charges.

Normally in a federal lawsuit, plaintiffs have 90 days to serve the legal documents to the defendants, in this case Al-Thani. Once served, the defendants must appear in court in person, or face court-imposed fines or judgments.

“I filed a motion asking the judge for an extension to serve, and in it I stated that they are evading service,” Castaneda said.

“The American legal system has rules of procedure that specifically address situations such as evasion of service or default judgment. If an individual or a company chooses to evade or ignore a lawsuit, it’s at their own peril. Changing a name on a passport, flying private planes instead of commercial, or trying to evade customs authorities – these things don’t make a lawsuit go away.”

Castaneda field the original lawsuit in July on behalf of two former employees who worked for Al-Thani’s companies, Matthew Pittard and Matthew Allende.

Also named as defendants are Al-Thani’s company Geo Strategic Defense Solutions LLC (GSDS) and KH Holdings LLC alleging violations of the US Fair Labor Standards Act and violating US laws.

Castenda said that KH Holdings has been properly served but that the attorney representing Al-Thani, Aryeh Kaplan, refused to accept the legal service to appear in court asserting that they did not represent Al-Thani’s interests or his company GSDS. Kaplan is a partner of the Miami, Florida law firm of Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman LLP.

Kaplan did not respond to requests for comment on Friday.

The lawsuit specifically alleges Pittard and Allende were threatened at gunpoint by Al-Thani when they refused his orders in September 2017 to murder two unnamed Americans who Al-Thani suspected sullied his social reputation.

The lawsuit claims Al-Thani’s threats against Pittard, a security professional, and Allende, a paramedic, continued to escalate.

When Al-Thani discovered that an American he had imprisoned at his luxury palace in Qatar had been freed by Pittard and Allende, he threatened Pittard saying, according to the lawsuit, “he would kill him, bury his body in the desert, and kill Pittard’s family.”

The unnamed American who was being held captive was first arrested on Al-Thani’s orders and jailed at the Onaiza Police Station in Doha, before being moved to Al-Thani’s residence.

Documents claim Allende scaled a five-foot security fence and an 18-foot wall to escape Al-Thani’s Qatari compound after he was allegedly threatened at gunpoint.

Brandishing a Glock 26 automatic pistol, Al-Thani demanded Pittard return the freed unnamed American citizen and provide information about his whereabouts or, Al-Thani told Pittard, he “would pay the price.”

Castaneda said the two Americans are seeking $33 million in damages to compensate for their inability to pursue their careers because of Al-Thani’s actions. Al-Thani interfered in Pittard’s work with a Qatar security, law enforcement, and arms brokerage contract that Pittard had negotiated with the Police Training Institute in Doha, Qatar.

Al-Thani “created an environment of fear and intimidation. Defendant’s behavior has gone beyond a term of employment and intentionally extended into Pittard’s business and personal and professional lives,” the Lawsuit claims.

Al-Thani is being sued personally, and against his two companies, GEO Strategic Defense Solutions LLC and KH Holdings LLC.

Castaneda said the judge has issued a summons for Al-Thani ordering him to appear in court. She said she expects the legal process to continue for many months adding that the case is “a long way from trial.”

Although the lawsuit focuses on an employment dispute and the firings, it details the intimidation and threats that Sheikh Khaled Al-Thani allegedly made.

Article first published on Arab News.