Judge sends Indian guru to jail for 20 years in rapes

A judge on Monday sentenced a popular and flamboyant Indian spiritual guru to a total of 20 years in prison on charges of raping two female followers.

The sentences were pronounced amid intense security at a prison in the northern town of Rohtak where the guru, who calls himself Dr. Saint Gurmeet Singh Ram Rahim Insan, has been held since his conviction Friday.

Defense lawyer S.K. Garg Narwana said the guru was sentenced to 10 years in each case and fined a total of 3 million rupees ($47,000).

Christian sect attacks Congo prison, frees leader, 50 others

Christian sect members stormed a prison in Congo’s capital Wednesday, freeing the leader of their movement and 50 others, Congo’s justice minister said.

Bundu dia Kongo movement leader Ne Mwanda Nsemi is now on the run after the 4 a.m. attack on Makala prison in Kinshasa, Justice Minister Alexis Thambwe Mwamba told local radio station Top Congo FM.

Gunfire could be heard in the morning, but the justice minister said the situation is now under control.

13 autoworkers get life in prison for 2012 factory riots

A court in north India has sentenced 13 factory workers to life imprisonment for taking part in violence at the country's largest automobile factory that led to the death of a manager nearly five years ago.

Four other workers were sentenced to five years in prison for the rioting that broke out at the Maruti Suzuki manufacturing unit in Manesar in Haryana state in July 2012 following a dispute between workers and management at the factory.

Freed Jordanian who killed 7 Israeli girls shows no remorse

A Jordanian soldier who killed seven Israeli schoolgirls in a 1997 shooting rampage was unrepentant after his release from prison Sunday, lashing out at Israelis with harshly derogatory remarks.

Ahmed Daqamseh, who had spent 20 years in prison, was given a rousing welcome in his home village in northern Jordan after his release. He was greeted by chanting supporters who kissed him on the cheek and raised a photo of him with the caption, "Welcome to the hero Daqamseh."

Ex-Hong Kong leader gets 20 months in jail for misconduct

A former leader of Hong Kong was sentenced Wednesday to 20 months in prison for misconduct after failing to disclose plans to rent a luxury apartment for his retirement from a businessman applying for a broadcasting license.

It was a stunning downfall for Donald Tsang, 72, who served as Hong Kong's leader, or chief executive, from 2005 to 2012.

Blind cleric behind 1990s terror plots dies in US prison

Omar Abdel-Rahman, the so-called Blind Sheik convicted of plotting terror attacks in New York City in the decade before 9/11 and spiritual guide to a generation of Islamic militants, has died in a federal prison. He was 78.

Abdel-Rahman, who had diabetes and coronary artery disease, died Saturday at the Federal Correction Complex in Butner, North Carolina, said its acting executive assistant, Kenneth McKoy. The inmate spent seven years at the prison medical facility while serving a life sentence.

"We are saddened by your departure, father," the cleric's daughter, Asmaa, tweeted in Arabic.

Spain's Princess Cristina found not guilty in tax fraud case

In a wide-ranging tax fraud case that captivated Spain, Princess Cristina was found not guilty Friday of being an accessory to fraud but her husband was convicted and sentenced to more than six years in prison.

A panel of judges ruled that Cristina, the 51-year-old sister of King Felipe VI, will be required to pay nearly 265,000 euros (over $280,000) in fines because the court considers that she indirectly benefited from the fraud.

Death toll at 26 inmates from latest Brazil prison violence

Twenty-six inmates were killed in eruptions of violence inside two prisons in northern Brazil, officials said Sunday as they quelled the latest in a string of jail disturbances across the country in which more than 100 people died within two weeks.

The state security office for Rio Grande do Norte state had reported earlier in the day that there were 27 deaths, but later lowered that by one. It also said all bodies had now been counted.

Suspected rebels storm Philippine jail, 158 inmates escape

More than 100 suspected Muslim rebels stormed a jail in the southern Philippines before dawn Wednesday, allowing 158 inmates to escape in what officials said was the biggest jailbreak in the country.

Six of the inmates were killed in firefights with pursuing police and army troops, while eight others have been caught and were being returned to the facility, said Senior Inspector Xavier Solda, spokesman for the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology.

At least 56 inmates killed in prison riot in northern Brazil

An attack by members of one crime gang on rival inmates touched off a riot at a prison in the northern state of Amazonas, leaving at least 56 dead, including several who were beheaded or dismembered in the worst bloodshed at a Brazilian prison since 1992.

Authorities said the riot that raged from Sunday afternoon into Monday morning grew out of a fight between two of the country's biggest crime gangs over control of prisons and drug routes in northern Brazil.

Bollywood actor Sanjay Dutt freed from jail in weapons case

Bollywood actor Sanjay Dutt said freedom was "the most amazing thing" after he left prison Thursday upon completing his five-year sentence for illegal weapons possession in a case linked to the 1993 terror attack in Mumbai.

Dutt's wife Maanyata and noted filmmaker Rajkumar Hirani greeted the actor as he came out of the prison gate in the western city of Pune. He saluted the Indian national flag at the prison building and thanked fans, including some who came in person to see him, for their support. "There is no easy walk to freedom, my friend," he told reporters before leaving in a chartered plane.