"Fiat Justitia Ruat Caelum"

Texas man investigated over ricin letters to Obama, Bloomberg

By Mark Hosenball.

(Reuters) - U.S. authorities are investigating a Texas man over threatening letters containing a deadly poison mailed to U.S. President Barack Obama and New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, a law enforcement official said on Friday.

The probe comes as FBI officials continue investigating a separate batch of ricin-laced letters sent earlier this month from Washington state to the president and four other targets, including the CIA and a military facility.

At this point, investigators do not think the two cases are connected, the source said.

FBI investigators in Texas are questioning a man in New Boston, Texas after his wife called the police to report suspicious activity, the law enforcement source said. The agency is proceeding cautiously, and the man has not been charged, the source added.

Those letters were postmarked May 20 from Shreveport, Louisiana, according to an official briefed on the investigation. They referred to the debate over the nation's gun laws and also were sent to Bloomberg's gun control group in Washington, D.C. Initial tests showed they contained ricin.

In the Washington state case, the FBI said on Thursday that three of the five letters, including the letter to Obama, have been intercepted and contained ricin.

A fourth letter to Fairchild Air Force Base near Spokane has been located, and a fifth letter to the CIA was detected but not found, the FBI's Seattle office said in a statement.

"The CIA letter was detected during the mail process but it was sent to a facility that does not receive mail deliveries," said Ayn Dietrich, a spokeswoman for FBI Seattle.

"We can't offer more granularity into detection methods," she said when asked what it meant for the letter to be "detected."

Authorities have already charged a Washington state man, Matthew Ryan Buquet, for allegedly mailing one of the five letters to a U.S. district judge in Spokane. On Thursday, the FBI said that letter is similar to the other four letters from Washington under investigation.

"We are aware of similarities between the five letters listed in the press release. The Shreveport letters are separate from this Spokane investigation," Dietrich said.

Mail to top public officials is not delivered directly, but instead goes through off-site screening facilities first.

The letter sent to Bloomberg's group Mayors Against Illegal Guns was opened by its director.

Authorities have intercepted several ricin-laced letters in recent weeks. The poisonous substance is found naturally in castor beans but can be converted into a lethal form that can cause death within days. There is no known antidote.

The FBI is moving cautiously after wrongly arresting a suspect in another recent ricin case, the source said.

James Everett Dutschke, a Tupelo, Mississippi martial arts instructor, was arrested in April with allegedly sending poison-laced letters to Obama and two other public officials after authorities first arrested another man who worked as an Elvis impersonator.

(Additional reporting Susan Heavey in Washington, Edith Honan and Chris Francescani in New York and Eric Johnson in Seattle; Editing by Ellen Wulfhorst, Sofina Mirza-Reid and Tim Dobbyn)

Source: http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/05/31/us-usa-obama-letter-idUSBRE94T0VL20130531

US man sentenced to jail for threatening president Obama

An American man has been sentenced to jail for allegedly threatening to kill US President Barack Obama.

On Wednesday, a courtroom in North Carolina sentenced the man identified as Donte Jamar Sims to six months in prison followed by one year of supervised release after he allegedly sent messages on social media revealing a plot to kill the US president before his address at Democratic National Convention in September 2012. 

The 22-year-old Florida man posted threat messages including “Plotting president Obama's Murder…Ima Assassinate president Obama this evening…The Secret Service is gonna be defenseless once I aim the Assault Rifle at Barack's Forehead,” on Twitter. 

Following his arrest in 2012, a US Secret Service agent said the man made the threats because he hated President Obama. 

“Sims stated that he published the statements because he hated President Obama,” the Secret Service agent said. 

In a separate case, an 18-year-old boy arrested for making ‘terror threats’ through his Facebook posts about the recent bombings in the US city of Boston remains in custody pending payment of USD 1 million bail. 

This is while, the results of recent polls showed that Barack Obama's approval ratings plunged. 

According to a new poll conducted by the Quinnipiac University national, scandals dragged down Obama’s approval rating compared to less than a month ago. 

The poll of 1,419 registered voters from May 22-28, also released on Thursday, showed that 49 percent of the respondents disapproved of Obama’s performance in creating jobs, up from 45 percent in a similar survey by the university on May 1. 

The poll also showed that 49 percent of those surveyed are skeptical of Obama’s honesty, down from 58 percent compared to September 1, 2011, the last time the Quinnipiac University asked the question. 

Obama’s administration has also faced sever broadside since the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), which collects US taxes, admitted on May 10 that it had inappropriately targeted conservative Tea Party nonprofit groups for extra scrutiny. 

MAM/KA 

Source: http://www.presstv.ir/detail/2013/05/31/306455/us-man-gets-jail-term-for-obama-threats/

Libya not ready to try Saif al-Islam Gaddafi - ICC

The International Criminal Court's pre-trial chamber has rejected Libya's request to try the son of late Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, Saif al-Islam.

Mr Gaddafi has been indicted by the ICC on war crimes charges relating to the 2011 uprising which toppled his father.

He remains in the custody of a local militia that captured him in late 2011, and is not in official state custody.

This and other challenges meant Libya was not ready to host the trial, the pre-trial chamber's judges said.

In a statement, the judges at The Hague recognised "Libya's significant efforts to rebuild institutions and to restore the rule of law".

However, Libya continued to "face substantial difficulties in exercising fully its judicial powers across the entire territory", they added.

Mr Gaddafi, who was seen as the most likely successor to his father, was captured by militias in the desert town of Ubari in November 2011 - allegedly trying to flee the country.

He is being held in the town of Zintan, where he is facing separate charges, accused of complicity in exchanging information, obtaining documents that threaten national security and insulting the national flag.

The charges are linked to a visit to Mr Gaddafi in June 2012 by ICC lawyer Melinda Taylor and three other ICC staff.

Ms Taylor was accused of clandestinely passing Mr Gaddafi a coded letter from a fugitive former aide.

The ICC staff were held for three weeks and then released to The Hague; they are not expected to return to Libya to face charges.

The ICC issued a warrant for Mr Gaddafi's arrest in June 2011 for two counts of crimes against humanity.

Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-22733375

Uganda: Police stop media siege as Monitor opens

By Monitor Reporter.

The outgoing Internal Affairs Minister, Mr Hillary Onek, Thursday ordered police to immediately vacate Monitor Publication premises.

He told journalists at the government Media Centre that the company that publishes the Daily Monitor, Saturday Monitor and Sunday Monitor should resume operations.

Eleven days ago, police surrounded the company premises and stopped its operations. The Red Pepper Publications, another private media house met a similar fate.

Monitor Publications’ radio stations - KFM and Dembe FM - were also switched off by police after producing a search warrant in quest of a letter written by Gen David Sejusa, the Coordinator of Intelligence Services.

Since then, there has been a heavy presence of armed security operatives at the headquarters of the media houses, blocking staff members from accessing the premises.

Gen Sejusa, in his letter, asked the Director General of Internal Security Organisation to investigate allegations that there was a plot to assassinate top army and government officials opposed to an alleged plan to enable Brig Muhoozi Keinerugaba succeed his father - Mr Museveni - as the next president.

Source: http://www.monitor.co.ug/News/National/Police-vacates-Monitor-offices/-/688334/1866910/-/13v3hsqz/-/index.html

Kenya: Judge puts on hold MPs pay raise plan

A court has slammed the breaks on Parliament against releasing Sh851,000 as salaries for MPs.

The MPs now have to wait until the High Court determines a petition lodged Thursday afternoon by the Law Society of Kenya (LSK).

The lawyers filed an application for a conservatory order and a petition, raising constitutional questions about Parliament’s mandate.

Mr Justice David Majanja ruled that it was necessary to halt payment of the enhanced salaries due to the grave constitutional issues raised by the LSK.

“The conservatory orders are, in my view, necessary to prevent loss to the public coffers of sums that would be paid out and in the event the ultimate decision of the court is that the cause taken by the National Assembly is unconstitutional, would be difficult to recover,” he said.

The LSK moved to court to stop the National Assembly and its Speaker, the Salaries and Remuneration Commission and the Controller of Budget from enforcing the decision by MPs to nullify the Kenya Gazette notices that had set the salaries at Sh532,000.

The Clerk of the National Assembly had certified the decision by issuing a certificate of nullification that declared that the salaries would be governed by the National Assembly and Remuneration Act, thus restoring the Sh851,000 that MPs in the previous House earned.

Mr Justice Majanja said that the certificate, if implemented, would result in serious consequences. The judge noted that a court should issue a conservatory order where there is real danger that the public will suffer violation of the Constitution and to preserve the integrity of the constitutional bodies.

“The balance is best maintained by the court stopping everything in its tracks. It is the Judiciary that has the ultimate authority to assert the supremacy of the constitution,” the judge ruled.

Source: http://www.nation.co.ke/News/politics/Judge-puts-on-hold-MPs-pay-raise-plan-/-/1064/1867640/-/1sq094z/-/index.html


UN court acquits Serbia intelligence chiefs of war crimes

A UN tribunal at The Hague has found two former Serbian intelligence chiefs not guilty of war crimes and crimes against humanity.

Jovica Stanisic and Franko Simatovic were accused of directing several Serbian units in committing atrocities during the Balkans conflict in the 1990s.

Both men denied charges including murder and ethnic cleansing.

Judges acquitted them on all counts and ordered their immediate release.

Powerful men

The high-ranking Serb officials, who were allies of former Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic, were accused of training and funding violent paramilitary groups responsible for mass killings and torture during the conflict.

Mr Stanisic, 62, was Mr Milosevic's one-time state security chief and seen as one of the country's most powerful men.

Mr Simatovic, 63, a former counter-intelligence officer in the Serbian State Security Services, was transferred to The Hague a decade ago, following the assassination of Serbian Prime Minister Zoran Djindjic.

Prosecutors had called for life sentences for both men.

But the International Criminal Tribunal for Yugoslavia (ICTY) said there was insufficient evidence to show that either man had assisted soldiers who were allegedly responsible for murder and other crimes in Bosnia and Croatia.

In summing up, the presiding judge Alphons Orie acknowledged that the crimes had been committed but said there was insufficient evidence to prove the accused were directly responsible.

The verdicts are highly significant, says the BBC's Anna Holligan in The Hague.

Prosecutors failed to convince the judges that there was any Serbian state responsibility in the mass killings of non-Serbs by the notorious Serb paramilitary brigades, our correspondent says.

The ICTY's ruling comes three months after appeal judges at The Hague acquitted the former chief of the Yugoslav National Army of aiding and abetting atrocities by rebel Serbs in Bosnia.

Momcilo Perisic, who commanded the Yugoslav army during the wars in Bosnia and Croatia, had been found guilty and sentenced to 27 years for crimes against humanity after a trial in 2011.

Thursday's verdict may help to restore faith among Serbs in the neutrality of the special court. Many have accused the tribunal being weighted against them.

Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-22721210

ARUSHA: MP Godbless Lema's case adjourned to July 2

Written by YASINTA AMOS.

THE incitement case involving Arusha-Urban Member of Parliament (MP), Godbless Lema, was adjourned to July 2.

Lema is charged with inciting students at the Institute of Accountancy Arusha (IAA) to riot, following the death of their colleague who was stabbed by a knife by unknown people in April, this year.

The prosecution told the court presided by Resident Magistrate Devotha Msoffe that investigations on the matter was still going on. The accused is represented by Advocates Method Kimomogoro and Humphrey Mtui.

The case comes shortly after Lema released a statement blaming the Arusha Regional Commissioner (RC), Mr Magessa Mulongo, for sending threats to him through phone messages (SMS).

The MP claims that the RC sent to him a message stating that he would ensure that the legislator rots in jail. Police, however, said that the number used was not the one being used by Mr Mulongo.

Source: http://www.dailynews.co.tz/index.php/local-news/18004-mp-lema-s-case-adjourned-to-july-2

TANZANIA: New minimum wage for private sector announced

BY LYDIA SHEKIGHENDA.

The government yesterday announced a substantial rise in the minimum wage in the private sector, saying the changes will be implemented in the coming financial year that begins in July.

The announcement was made yesterday in Parliament by Labour and Employment minister Gaudensia Kabaka when tabling her 14,958,896,000/- budget estimates for the 2013/2014 financial year. 

Minister Kabaka said that the minimum wage scales will be applicable in twelve sectors with variation of percentages from one to another.

The sectors are industry and trade 43.8 percent, hotel and domestic services 55.2 percent, private security 46.4 percent, Mining 25.2 percent, health 65 percent, fisheries and marine services 21.2 percent, transport 49 percent and agriculture 42.9 percent.

The government has also announced the increase in the minimum wage in the four new sectors of construction, private schools, energy and communications.

Kabaka said that the new rates have taken into account a number of factors including efficiency, the country’s production situation, and provision of services. Also considered are the employers’ capability and producers of each sector as well as inflation.

“These factors have been considered to ensure that there is no redundancy or transference of investment to other countries where the cost of production is low,” Kabaka explained.

On withdrawal benefits, which are the right of an employee who has a qualified pension plan to cash-out any accumulated benefits upon leaving an employer, she said that recommendations on how to deal with the matter have been prepared and will be discussed by stakeholders before tabling them in Parliament.

Clarifying on the issuance of work permits, Minister Kabaka said her ministry in collaboration with other stakeholders has already prepared a draft bill and that it will be tabled in Parliament in the 2013/2014 financial year.

“The bill is meant to standardise the law governing issuance of work permits and to do away with the current system that has several authorities and laws dealing with the matter separately and independently,” she explained.

On the same subject, the Committee Chairperson, Jenister Mhagama (pictured), said that currently, the issuance of work permits is not favourable to the locals as it denies employment to a majority of Tanzanians employment by allowing foreigners to do work that could be done by locals.

Also, Mhagama insisted that the government should invite investors only to the sectors that need big capital and technology that is not readily available in the country but to avoid offering them small projects that can be done by locals.

Presenting the opposition speech on the Ministry’s budget estimates for 2013/2014 financial year on behalf of the Shadow Minister, Joseph Mbilinyi, Special Seats MP for Chadema, Cecilia Paresso, accused the government of excessive spending in research conducting into whether there ever was the need to increase minimum wage for the private sector.

She revealed that in just two financial years, the government has spent 197,925,000/- in coordination and facilitation of research on minimum wage for the private sector.

“The Opposition Camp is disappointed with the governments’ tendency to unnecessarily set aside funds for research while it is obvious that the wages need to be raised simply based on the high cost of living in the country,” Paresso said. 

SOURCE: THE GUARDIAN: http://www.ippmedia.com/frontend/index.php?l=55286

Over 10,000 illegal immigrants arrested last year in Tanzania

BY THE GUARDIAN REPORTER.

Over 10,000 illegal immigrants were caught in the country until the end of 2012, the National Assembly yesterday.

Responding to a question asked by Khatib Said Haji (Konde, CUF) who wanted to know the number of illegal immigrants caught in the country, Home Affairs deputy minister Perreira Silima said about 10,045 immigrants were arrested from January to December 2012. 

He said “Among all the immigrants caught last year, 3115 immigrants were charged in court, 4,698 immigrants were repatriated, 501 were fined, and 398 are currently serving in prisons; adding that a case for 183 immigrants was still pending in court.”

With those figures released by the deputy ministry, it implies that on average 837 immigrants are arrested monthly and 28 immigrants are arrested daily.

Silima said his government plans to purchase vehicles, motorcycles and boats that could help immigration officials to carry out continuous patrols to nab the illegal immigrants.

“In the fight against illegal immigrants, the government through its immigration department and other government security organs has been carrying out various patrols and operations which have enabled them to arrest some illegal immigrants and managed to bring them to court,” Silima noted.

He added that the government is providing training to its employees so as to deal with the new ways and techniques being used by immigrants to escape hands of immigration authorities.

Similarly, when responding to Haji’s supplementary question the deputy minister in all these processes the government in collaboration with the Tanzania People’s Defence Forces (TPDF) have joined hands to arrest the growing problem.

Legislator Haji had sought to know why the government did not task TPDF to curb the problem as it has been the case for illegal fishing on the Indian Ocean.

The deputy minister revealed according to recent a research carried out by both the immigration department and the Mzumbe University, it has been recommended to establishment a kind of an electronic system that would connect all the immigration offices across the country, improve working facilities, and train employees on regular basis. 

SOURCE: THE GUARDIAN: http://www.ippmedia.com/frontend/index.php?l=55295

Dar es Salaam: Court asked to dismiss bankers' case

Written by FAUSTINE KAPAMA.

THE defence asked the Kisutu Resident Magistrate's Court in Dar es Salaam to dismiss money laundering charges filed against former officer with Twiga Bancorp Limited, Edwin Peter Eponda, linking him with swindling 65,125 US dollars, property of his employer.

"The charges are defective and bad in law because of duplicity. We invite this court to reject them or order the prosecution to make necessary amendments to suit the requirement of the law," Advocate Hudson Ndusyepo for the accused, told Senior Resident Magistrate, Mr Geni Dudu.

He alleged that under Section 129 of the Criminal Procedure Act (CPA), the court was empowered to intervene and give appropriate orders to ensure justice is met if it finds defects on the charges filed against the accused person.

According to the advocate, his client is facing nine counts of stealing by a public servant and one on money laundering allegedly committed between October and November 2010 in Dar es Salaam.

"The particulars for the nine counts indicate that the accused person as being employee of Twiga Bancorp Limited, fraudulently stole 65,125 US dollars (about 106m/-)," the advocate submitted.

He claimed further that particulars relating to the 10th count of money laundering shows that after committing the said nine counts, the accused converted the said sum into local currency and he spent 4m/- on purchasing of a piece of land to conceal the proceeds of theft.

"We have no problem on other counts except the 10th charge of money laundering. The problem here is the distinct offence of theft, different from stealing as alleged in other nine counts. The charge is defective both in substance and form as all particulars of offence refer to the acts of stealing," he said.

However, Senior State Attorney Frank Kimaro for the prosecution, requested the court to dismiss the request by the defence, submitting that the submissions presented lacked legal merit.

He told the court that Section 129 of the CPA cited by the advocate to support the request was not applicable. "We say so because Section 129 of CPA is applicable during registration or admission of the charge.

The charge sheet before you has already been admitted. The submissions by the advocate are without merit and means nothing than being made to delay the prosecution's case," the attorney argued. He submitted that the charges filed against the accused were proper and the defence counsel had not shown the defects.

"There is nothing like duplicity of the charges here. The charge before you is proper. The objection raised by the defence is without merit and should be rejected," he said. After hearing the submissions from both parties, the trial magistrate said that he would deliver the ruling on the matter on June 5.

Source: http://www.dailynews.co.tz/index.php/local-news/18002-court-asked-to-dismiss-bankers-case

KENYA: Rawal, Kimemia set to be sworn in

By EDITH FORTUNATE.

President Kenyatta has appointed Kalpana Rawal as Deputy Chief Justice and Francis Kimemia as Secretary to the Cabinet.

The President's move follows Lady Justice Rawal and Mr Kimemia's approval by Parliament on Tuesday.

The appointments are contained in a special gazette notice issued Wednesday evening.

The Deputy CJ and Secretary to the Cabinet are expected to be sworn in Thursday at State House, Nairobi in a ceremony to be witnessed by President Kenyatta.

Two nominated Cabinet Secretaries Joseph ole Lenku (Interior) and Kazungu Kambi (Labour) will be vetted by the Committee on Appointments before their appointment.

The President is also expected to name Principal Secretaries. 

Source: http://www.nation.co.ke/News/politics/Rawal-Kimemia-set-to-be-sworn-in--/-/1064/1866822/-/22lqxhz/-/index.html

Dar es Salaam: Court dismisses PCCB poll bribe appeal

Written by FAUSTINE KAPAMA.

THE High Court dismissed an appeal lodged by the Prevention and Combating of Corruption Bureau (PCCB) against the former Tanzania Football Federation (TFF) Secretary General, Frederick Mwakalebela and his wife Celina over bribing voters during the CCM preferential polls.

Judge Rehema Mkuye of the High Court's Iringa Registry ruled in favour of the duo after upholding a preliminary objection raised by advocates Alex Mgongolwa and Basil Mkwata.

In their objection, the advocates for the couple had alleged that the appeal by the PCCB lodged to challenge the acquittal of their clients, in respect of the bribery scandal, was incompetent because it was filed without attaching the copy of the judgment issued by the lower court.

The two had been accused of engaging in corrupt activities during the 2010 preferential elections of the ruling Chama Cha Mapinduzi (CCM) in Iringa Region.

It was alleged that being an aspirant in the CCM primaries, Mwakalebela sought nomination by giving Mkoga Village Chairman, Hamis Luhanga a 100,000/- bribe for distribution to 30 CCM members attending a pre-poll meeting at the village leader's residence.

The shady transaction was alleged to have been made on June 2010 at Mkoga in Iringa Municipality. On the second count, Mwakalebela and his wife Celina were charged with being involved in corrupt practices on July 20, this year, at Mgongo Village in Iringa.

The PCCB prosecutor had said that the former accused persons paid 100,000/- to Gwiso Sanga at a meeting conducted at the village and his wife gave 100,000/- to Gwido Sanga for him to distribute it to 22 CCM members who attended the meeting.

Mwakalebela had won the preliminary polls for the parliamentary seat, but his name was deleted and replaced by Monica Mbega, who was later defeated by Rev. Peter Msigwa of Chama Cha Demokrasia na Maendeleo (Chadema).

At the trial court, the magistrate who heard the case had ruled that the counts for which the couple was implicated and filed by the PCCB did not disclose the offences charged. The PCCB was aggrieved by the decision and crossed over to the High Court by way of appeal.

Source: http://www.dailynews.co.tz/index.php/local-news/18019-court-dismisses-pccb-poll-bribe-appeal

London: Michael Adebowale charged with Drummer Lee Rigby murder

A man has been charged with the murder of soldier Lee Rigby in south-east London last week, police have said.

Michael Adebowale, 22, of Greenwich, London, has been remanded in custody to appear at Westminster Magistrates' Court on Thursday morning.

A second man, Michael Adebolajo, 28, remains under arrest at a London hospital.

Drummer Rigby, 25, was stabbed to death in a street attack in Woolwich on Wednesday, 22 May.

Mr Adebowale, who was discharged from hospital on Tuesday, has also been charged with possession of a firearm.

'Sufficient evidence'

Sue Hemming, head of the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) Special Crime and Counter-terrorism Division, said: "Crown Prosecutors have been working with the investigators of Counter Terrorism Command since the killing of Drummer Lee Rigby on 22 May.

"Following the release of Michael Adebowale from hospital, we have authorised the police to charge him with the murder of Drummer Rigby.

"We have also authorised police to charge him with possession of a firearm, contrary to section 16A of the Firearms Act 1968.

"There is sufficient evidence to prosecute Michael Adebowale and it is in the public interest to do so. He will appear at Westminster Magistrates' Court tomorrow, Thursday, 30 May."

The CPS said it was continuing to advise police over other suspects arrested during the investigation into Drummer Rigby's death.

A post-mortem examination found that the soldier died of "multiple incised wounds".

Scotland Yard said the inquest into Drummer Rigby's death would open at Southwark Coroner's Court on Friday.

Read More: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-22712411

Jomo Kenyatta grabbed my land, man tells court

By WAHOME THUKU.

An elderly man has accused the late President Jomo Kenyatta of illegally  acquiring a 1.9-acre of land from him.

Mr Gichuhi Kinyanjui, claims the late President took the land in Dagoretti area and combined it with his own.

Kinyanjui’s story, now subject of a court petition, reads like the biblical analogy that those with less shall have everything taken from them and given to those who have much.

Yet if he had another choice, Kinyanjui who filed the petition last month, would have opted not to drag the Kenyatta family to court, especially for his political stand.

Being an elderly man from the same community as the late President, Kinyanjui is apologetic at the very onset for having resulted to legal action.

“I have not gone to court in bad faith and I don’t want to be seen as undermining my community, I am only seeking justice for myself,” he told The Standard in a telephone interview.

And he would not wish to have his picture in the media or to make his case a subject of public debate.

Kinyanjui says his late father Kinyanjui Matubia gave the piece of land at Ngando area in Riruta to him in 1957. The Kenyatta family has for decades been on the defensive over claims the founding President Jomo Kenyatta acquired massive land across the country in unclear circumstances.

Prime surburbs

While the family is often targeted over thousands of acres of land they own at the Coast, Central Kenya and the Rift Valley, one 89-year old man in Nairobi has his own small claim of land against the Kenyatta family.

Under the current market rate, the land would fetch millions of shillings being in the prime suburbs of the city.

Read More: http://www.standardmedia.co.ke/?articleID=2000084763&story_title=jomo-kenyatta-grabbed-my-land-man-tells-court

France’s most wanted caught outside Paris

French police captured the country's most-wanted man in a hotel outside Paris on Wednesday, six weeks after he dynamited his way out of prison in a spectacular jailbreak.

Redoine Faid, 41, a notorious career thief who had been serving time for robbery and was facing a possible new sentence in connection with the 2010 death of a policewoman, was arrested around 3am at a hotel in Pontault-Combault, about 20 kilometres (12 miles) east of central Paris.

Police said he was arrested with a 29-year-old accomplice and that weapons were seized at the scene, suggesting Faid may have been preparing another heist.

Faid has since been placed under formal investigation in Lille, in accordance with French law.

Interior Minister Manuel Valls hailed police for the "thorough and effective" investigation that led to his capture.

Faid used explosives to blast his way out of the Sequedin penitentiary during his April 13 jailbreak and, armed with a pistol, briefly took four guards hostage before escaping in a waiting getaway car. All the hostages were released unharmed.

Read More: http://www.france24.com/en/20130529-france-most-wanted-fugitive-caught-hotel-paris-redoine-faid-prison

Kigali: Police arrest imposter representing city lawyer

By Noël Turikumwe.

Police are holding a man accused of impersonating a lawyer subscribing to Kigali Bar Association, the professional body where all practicing lawyers are registered. 

The suspect, in custody at Remera Police Station, is a resident of Kicukiro District. 

He was arrested while pleading case in a court in Gicumbi District. 

Police spokesperson in the City of Kigali Urbain Mwiseneza said the suspect’s action was undermining the credibility of the Rwandan justice system and misleading people by assuming responsibility beyond his ability, as well as conning people of their money. 

The suspect pleaded guilty.  

Athanase Rutabingwa, the president of the bar association, said the suspect is among three people they have been tracking down after they learnt of their gambit. 

The suspect is said to have started posing as a lawyer in 2009 and, according to Rutabingwa, apart from the penal measures that will be meted out on him if convicted, all past cases he was involved in will be affected. 

However, this paper could not readily establish the number of cases the suspected impersonator has been involved in. 

Rutabingwa added that there were other likely charges against the suspect, including forging and uttering professional documents to facilitate his criminal enterprise.

Source: http://www.newtimes.co.rw/news/index.php?i=15373&a=67394

LHRC disputes Mtwara toll

The Legal and Human Rights Centre (LHRC) has disputed police reports that only three people died in last week’s disturbances in Mtwara.

LHRC claims that more than 12 people died in the violence, and has promised to release the names and ages of the victims soon.

However, police swiftly dismissed the assertion, saying the death toll announced by LHRC had been “cooked up”.Mtwara Regional Police Commander Linus Sinzumwa maintained that three people died in the riots.

“I don’t know where that figure came from. What I know is that three people died, as was announced earlier,” he told The Citizen by telephone.

LHRC, in collaboration with the Southern African Human Rights NGO Network (Sahringon), sent a team of legal experts to Mtwara immediately after violence rocked the region.

According to LHRC researcher Patience Mlowe, the team interviewed affected residents, members of civil society organisations and other people, who revealed “shocking” information that 12 people were killed in two days of violence.

A lawyer, Ms Grace Mwangamila, who was part of the LHRC team that visited Mtwara, said there were reports of rape in some areas, but did not give details.

LHRC acting executive director Harold Sungusia said Mtwara residents had lost trust in police, adding that there was a need to overhaul the entire force in the region

He said the government should also send independent mediators to Mtwara as part of efforts to find a lasting solution to recurrent violence in the region.

In another development, the Civic United Front (CUF) said it will on Sunday hold a public rally in Dar es Salaam during which residents of Mtwara and Lindi regions would be told how they would benefit from the gas project.

CUF Deputy Secretary-General (Mainland) Julius Mtatiro said the rally would he held in the city after the government banned political gatherings in Mtwara.

He said the meeting would also be attended by representatives of Mtwara residents and civil society organisations operating in the region.

Read More: http://www.thecitizen.co.tz/News/-/1840392/1866624/-/ewbsoaz/-/index.html

Kenya police accused of abusing Somali refugees

By Tom Odula.

NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — Kenyan police abused and extorted money from Somali refugees after attacks in the capital believed to have been carried out by the Somali militant group al-Shabab, an international human rights group said Wednesday.

The Human Rights Watch report, covering mid-November to late January, also said that police arbitrarily arrested more than 1,000 asylum seekers.

Kenya was hit by a string of grenade attacks last year in Nairobi's Eastleigh area, which is highly populated by Somali immigrants. The Somali militant group al-Shabab had vowed to carry out attacks on Kenya because it sent troops into Somalia in 2011 to fight the rebels.

A November 18th attack that killed nine people after an improvised explosive device tore through a minibus had also sparked riots and xenophobic attacks against the Somali population in the neighborhood. Police blamed the explosion on al-Shabab.

The rights group said police used the attacks and a government order to relocate urban refugees to camps as an excuse to carry out the abuses.

"Refugees told us how hundreds of Kenyan police unleashed 10 weeks of hell on communities close to the heart of Nairobi, torturing, abusing, and stealing from some of the country's poorest and most vulnerable people," said Gerry Simpson, senior refugee researcher for Human Rights Watch and author of the report.

Kenya police spokesman Masoud Mwinyi could not be reached for comment.

Police abuses against Somali refugees and immigrants in Kenya are not new, Human Rights Watch said.

In 2009, 2010 and 2012, Human Rights Watch said it reported on Kenyan security force abuses and other serious forms of violence against the population in the predominantly Somali-inhabited North Eastern region, including the Dadaab refugee camps sheltering almost half a million mostly Somali refugees.

"Abuses documented in this report are extremely similar to abuses documented in previous reports, in terms of abuses on Somali refugees and Somalis it seems to be business as usual," Simpson said.

Human Rights Watch called for investigations on the police chief and his two deputies, and criticized the U.N. for not speaking out against the alleged abuse of asylum seekers.

A history of human rights abuses, impunity and a culture of corruption led to the agitation for police reforms in Kenya. The calls culminated in the 2010 constitution that restructured the police force to make it independent of the state. Before the new constitution was adopted the president had the power to hire and fire police chiefs and as a result policemen were used to crush dissenting voices.

A report released last week by the government-funded Truth Justice and Reconciliation Commission found Kenya's state security agencies, particularly the police and army, have been the main perpetrators of human rights violations, including massacres, enforced disappearances, torture and sexual violence.

A bribe-taking culture exists in the force and officers live in deplorable conditions, are poorly paid, under-equipped and understaffed, former police spokesman Eric Kiraithe admitted last year.

The constitution initiated police reforms which included the formation of a civilian oversight authority to investigate the conduct of the police. It also set the selection of the police chief through a public vetting process by the National Police Service Commission an independent body created to look at pay and promotions in the force. Parliament would then approve the selected candidate.

Kenya's police chief or Inspector General David Kimaiyo, sworn-in in December, is supposed to spear-head reforms in the force. However, human rights groups including Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International have criticized the pace of the reforms.

In December Kenya announced new, more stringent controls aimed primarily at Somali refugees inside its borders following months of explosive device attacks. The government said all refugees and asylum seekers from Somalia must return to the large refugee camp complex known as Dadaab.

A government statement from the Department of Refugee Affairs said Kenya hosts refugees from nine countries. Hosting so many refugees, the statement said, brings many challenges, including "rampant insecurity" in refugee camps and urban areas.

A Kenyan court has temporarily blocked the government from enforcing the orders to return urban refugees to the camps, until a petition against the order filed by a human rights group is heard.

Source: http://www.businessweek.com/ap/2013-05-29/kenya-police-accused-of-abusing-somali-refugees/

Hague judges jail Bosnian Croat leaders, condemn Tudjman

A UN court has jailed six Bosnian Croats for up to 25 years after finding them guilty of war crimes. It also condemned late Croatian premier Franjo Tudjman, in a ruling the current prime minister described as simplistic.

Judges at the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY), in The Hague, on Wednesday found the six defendants guilty of persecuting, expelling and murdering Muslims between 1991 and 1994.  

A majority of the three-judge panel also named late Croatian President Franjo Tudjman among a group of top-ranking Zagreb officials as contributors to a process of ethnic cleansing of Muslims during the Bosnian conflict.

Former Bosnian Croat leader Jadranko Prlic and his five co-defendants were jailed for between 10 and 25 years for their part in the murder, rape, persecution, expulsion and maltreatment of Muslims in a bid to create a "greater Croatian state.”

The 53-year-old Prlic and three others were found guilty on 22 separate counts by the court, while two of the defendants were acquitted on some of the charges.

"The trial chamber is satisfied that Jadranko Prlic made a significant contribution to a joint criminal enterprise and to a criminal purpose to drive out the Muslim population," French judge Jean-Claude Antonetti told the court.

"The trial chamber therefore sentences you to 25 years in prison," Antonetti told Prlic, who received the longest sentence. The other defendants convicted, all high-ranking political and military leaders, were Bruno Stojic, Slobodan Praljak, Milivoj Petkovic, Valentin Coric and Berislav Pusic.

'Reality sometimes complicated'

The three main ethnic groups in Bosnia - Muslims, Serbs and Croats - fought each other in the wake of Bosnia's split from the Yugoslavian federation in 1992.

Prime Minister Zoran Milanovic said the judgment about Croatia's role did not correspond to reality and said he hoped it would be overturned.

"Reality is sometimes complicated, but sometimes it is very simple," he said. "Croatia made some mistakes in Bosnia, but it was also a partner and helped a lot."

"We cannot be indifferent to what the verdicts say but we hope the appeals chamber will accept what we feel is right," he said, without elaborating.

The former premier Tudjman, who died in 1999, led Croatia's drive for independence and is regarded by many as the father of the nation.

rc/dr (AP, AFP, dpa, Reuters)

Source: http://www.dw.de/hague-judges-jail-bosnian-croat-leaders-condemn-tudjman/a-16846447

Vincent and Bruno tie the knot, a first in France

By Catherine Bremer.

(Reuters) - Two men married each other in the southern French city of Montpellier on Wednesday, in the first same-sex wedding in a country rocked by protests against and for the reform.

Vincent Autin and Bruno Boileau exchanged vows in the city hall before the mayor, relatives and friends as dozens of riot police stood guard outside to ensure the ceremony was not interrupted by protestors.

The two men, who have been together since they hit it off six years ago discussing music in an online forum, embraced to wild cheers from the audience of some 500 people and the strains of "Love and Marriage" by U.S. crooner Frank Sinatra.

"It's a great pleasure for me to declare you married by law," said Montpellier Mayor Helene Mandroux as the couple, both dressed in dark suits, kissed and signed the marriage registry.

The ceremony marked a symbolic end to months of debate that often overshadowed France's economic woes, sealing Socialist President Francois Hollande's reputation as a reformer despite bitter and continued opposition from Catholics and conservatives.

Despite support for the reform in Montpellier, which boasts of being France's most gay-friendly town, officials scrapped plans to broadcast the wedding live on a giant TV screen and instead beamed it live online to the city's website.

Moments before the men walked in, a smoke bomb was lobbed from outside into the perimeter of the city hall. Security guards rushed to investigate, but the wedding went ahead.

An emotional Autin gave a brief speech to the audience, thanking his family, friends and government spokeswoman Najat Vallaud-Belkacem, a personal friend present at the ceremony.

"Love each other, love us, love one another, because it's important," said Autin from a balcony to a crowd of hundreds of well-wishers outside the city hall, adding the next step would be a law allowing gay couples to adopt children.

After the men exchanged a kiss, Mandroux signed the first ever marriage registry entry for two people of the same sex in France, a nation predominantly Roman Catholic but fiercely attached to the separation of church and state.

Backed by a slim majority of French and feted by gay men and lesbians when it came into force this month, a law making France the 14th country to allow same-sex marriage has triggered street protests by conservatives, Catholics and extreme right-wingers.

"This is a historic moment in your own lives... and a historic moment for our country," Mandroux told the ceremony. "We are building here together the society of tomorrow."

Source: http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/05/29/us-france-gaymarriage-ceremony-idUSBRE94S0YK20130529?feedType=RSS&feedName=lifestyleMolt

Kenya: AG ordered to amend law on election results

By EUNICE MACHUHI.

The Attorney General has been directed to amend the Elections Act to provide for a reasonable timeline within which the gazettement of election results should be done.

The High Court in Mombasa ordered the AG to initiate the legislative amendment to section 76 (1) of the Act to be enforced by the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC).

The section states that “a petition shall be filed within 28 days after the date of publication of the results of the election in the gazette notice”. It does not prescribe when the notice should be published.

According to Mr Justice Vincent Odunga, left as it is, the section may be a source of mischief, uncertainty and absurdity.

However, he declined to declare the section unconstitutional, saying it was enacted by Parliament in trying to fulfil its mandate in line with Article 87(1) of the Constitution.

In his observation, the judge said the Act itself was constitutional, although he contended that it appeared worded in a language that is difficult to follow, ambiguous, contradictory or impossible to apply.

What was unconstitutional however was the requirement by the section to merely require that the results be gazetted without imposing any timelines as to when gazettement was to be done, he said.

“It is therefore not necessarily rendered unconstitutional since it only gives rise to questions of interpretation by the court.”

The judge posed: “What is the court expected to do when confronted with such circumstances?”

He noted that in order to uphold the values of the Constitution and where an Act of Parliament exhibited certain deficiencies which made it uncertain and insufficient to properly realise the constitutional aspirations, the court would be perfectly entitled to “read-in” the omitted words.

Constitutional objectives

This is intended to bring the legislation in line with the constitutional aspirations without declaring it unconstitutional.

Justice Odunga said that if such amendment was not undertaken within the next 60 days, the said section would be deemed to contain a requirement that the IEBC was to gazette the results of the elections under section 76(1)(a) of the Elections Act within seven days of the announcement of the results by the Returning Officer.

The judge made the order as he delivered a ruling on an application by Lunga Lunga MP Khatib Mwashetani to strike out a petition filed against him by two voters.

Another High Court judge, Mr Justice Fred Ochieng’, also made a similar observation last week while delivering a ruling on an application by Mombasa Governor Hassan Joho to strike out a petition against him by Mr Suleiman Shahbal.

Source: http://www.nation.co.ke/News/politics/AG-ordered-to-amend-law-on-election-results--/-/1064/1865618/-/ba5ginz/-/index.html

Former Michigan Supreme Court justice sentenced to 366 days in prison

Laura Klein Mullen at 8:57 AM ET.

[JURIST] Former Michigan Supreme Court justice Diane Hathaway was sentenced on Tuesday to a year and a day in prison for bank fraud. Hathaway concealed assets while dealing with a bank to arrange a short sale on her home, which allowed her to sell her home for less than she owed and to avoid foreclosure. She claimed financial hardship in order to be approved for the sale, though she had over a million dollars in assets. The sentencing guidelines for the charge ranged from 12 to 18 months, and Hathaway's defense claimed that the irreparable harm that this had done to her reputation and career was sufficient punishment. Hathaway requested community service [sentencing memo, PDF] rather than prison time, but US District Judge John Corbett O'Meara opted for the prison sentence and required that she pay $90,000 in damages. It is likely that Hathaway will be eligible to be released early and will serve as few as nine months [AP report].

Hathaway pleaded guilty [JURIST report] to the charges in January. The charges were filed [JURIST report] as a result of a Detroit news investigative report [WXYZ report]. Judicial corruption has become a growing issue internationally. In October the UN called on nations around the world to do more to combat judicial corruption [JURIST report], stating that it is a human rights issue because it can deprive people of their due process rights.

Source: http://jurist.org/paperchase/2013/05/former-michigan-supreme-court-justice-sentenced.php

Prison letter by French man accused of treason sells for €380,000

A letter written by the famed French army captain Alfred Dreyfus, who was wrongly convicted of treason over a century ago, fetched €380,000 at an auction at Sotheby’s in Paris on Wednesday.

Penned by Dreyfus in 1895 during his incarceration, the letter was written to France’s interior minister.

In it, Dreyfus proclaims his innocence, saying: "I have been sentenced for the most infamous crime a soldier can commit and I am innocent... I ask you, minister, not for grace or pity, but simply for justice."

The letter’s final sale price far exceeded pre-auction estimates of between €100,000 and €150,000.

But the sale came amid controversy, with members of the Dreyfus family having previously claimed the letter should be donated to a museum or a library, rather than sold off to the highest bidder.

"We urge the seller of this letter to give up the sale," Dreyfus's grandson Charles Dreyfus and historian Vincent Duclert wrote in an open letter seen by the AFP news agency earlier this week.

A scandal that divided French society

Dreyfus, born into a French-Jewish family, was framed and the victim of a subsequent cover up by the French army. In 1894 Dreyfus was found guilty of passing secret information to the German military attache in Paris and sentenced to life imprisonment for treason at the infamous Devil's Island penal colony in French Guiana.

As evidence of the cover up leaked to the public, the Dreyfus Affair, as it would become known, divided French society and sparked a fierce political debate over anti-Semitism in France.

Dreyfus’s supporters included the likes of Emile Zola, who in the winter of 1898 published his famous "J'accuse" letter to the president of the day, naming officials who framed Dreyfus.

A year later, Dreyfus was pardoned and set free, but it was not until 1906 that he was officially exonerated by the state.

Source: http://www.france24.com/en/20130529-alfred-dreyfus-letter-sold-auction-france-treason-anti-semitism

Dar es Salaam advocate arraigned for forgery of sale agreement

Written by FAUSTINE KAPAMA.

SEASONED Advocate Felix Emmanuel Mkongwa has been charged at the Kisutu Resident Magistrate’s Court in Dar es Salaam with forging a sale agreement and transfer of ownership of a plot of a deceased person.

A statement of facts of the case was read out before Resident Magistrate Sudi Fimbo and the advocate, who operates his own law firm known as F.E. Mkongwa and Company Advocates, denied involvement in the said transaction.

After reading the memorandum of facts of the case, trial attorney Adolf Mkini informed the court that the prosecution was expecting to call five witnesses during the trial.

The magistrate thereafter adjourned the case to June 14, when full hearing is to take off. Presenting the facts in question, the prosecutor alleged that on June 3, 2005, at an unknown place, the advocate forged a sale agreement and transfer of the right of occupancy of a piece of land on Plot Number 600 Block G at Tegeta, in the City.

The advocate, according to the prosecution, purported to show that the documents in question were duly signed by the land owner, George Kimwaga, who had by then passed away, which he (accused) knew to be false. He told the court that Kimwaga died way back in 1999 and before meeting his death he was a student at the Open University of Tanzania from 1990 and 1999.

Thereafter, the prosecutor alleged, he (Kimwaga) did his internship practice at the accused’s legal company. It was alleged further that during that time Kimwaga acquired a title over the said piece of land situated in Kinondoni District with title number 42826.

He allegedly kept the said title deed in the accused’s office where he was practising his internship. The court was told further that the accused knew all about it while the deceased’s family had allegedly no knowledge of the fact.

State Attorney Mkini alleged that the accused had said he had contracted to buy the piece of land and told a police officer, Detective Sergeant E. 5442 Julius, when he was writing his cautioned statement, to have given it to one Desi Kweyamba to process the transfer.

“Surprisingly, the picture and signature appearing on the contract deed are not of the real George Kimwaga,” the prosecutor told the presiding magistrate.

On June 21, 2010, he said, the investigation office wrote to the Registrar of Titles over the said piece of land, who responded by a letter dated July 1, 2010 that the owner of the plot was George Kimwaga as from October 1, 1982 for a term of 33 years and the plot had never been processed for any transfer.

The prosecutor said that following the response by the Registrar, the accused was arrested and charged with the offence now facing him.

Source: http://dailynews.co.tz/index.php/local-news/17970-dar-es-salaam-advocate-arraigned-for-forgery-of-sale-agreement

Papua New Guinea repeals Sorcery Act while moving closer to executions

Papua New Guinea’s new laws expanding the use of the death penalty to a wider set of crimes, and signalling a move towards resuming executions, are a horrific and regressive step, Amnesty International said today.

The legislation was reportedly adopted by Parliament with little debate, during the same session that repealed the country’s controversial Sorcery Act which provided a defence for violent crime if the accused was acting to stop ‘witchcraft’. 

The death penalty now appears to apply to a longer list of crimes, including sorcery-related murder, rape and robbery, and provides for new methods of execution, including by lethal injection, hanging, electrocution, firing squad, and “medical death by deprivation of oxygen”.  

“Papua New Guinea has taken one step forward in protecting women from violence by repealing the Sorcery Act, but several giant steps back by moving closer to executions,” said Isabelle Arradon, Amnesty International’s Deputy Director for the Asia-Pacific. 

“The repeal of the Sorcery Act was long overdue, and a response to national and global outrage at the violence against women that has taken place in its name. But we are horrified that the government is attempting to end one of form of violence by perpetrating state-sanctioned violence.”

The government has passed the new death penalty laws following highly publicized and brutal killings of women accused of sorcery. 

Although the death penalty already existed in law in Papua New Guinea, there had been no executions since the country’s independence in 1954. The government announced in May this year that it intended to restart executions as part of crime prevention policy, despite the lack of convincing evidence of the deterrent effect of capital punishment. 

“The taking of a life – whether a person is beheaded by villagers or killed by the State – represents an equally abhorrent violation of human rights. The government has failed to heed calls from civil society to not start killing prisoners again,” said Arradon.  

Numerous religious groups and women’s organizations in Papua New Guinea, as well as prominent political figures, have publicly opposed the government’s push towards bringing back executions.  

Thousands of people had protested and signed petitions calling for an end to violence against women and violence related to ‘sorcery’ accusations, specifically without recourse to the death penalty. The petitions were delivered to government officials through the National Haus Krai movement on 14 and 15 May.   

More than two-thirds of all countries in the world have abolished the death penalty in law or practice. The last known execution to take place in the Pacific region was in 1982 in Tonga. Nauru, Papua New Guinea, and Tonga are abolitionist in practice, while Fiji has only retained the death penalty for military crimes. All other Pacific countries do not provide for the death penalty for any crime.

At least 10 people are currently on death row in Papua New Guinea. 

“More and more countries today move away from the death penalty, in part because there are no assurances that it is an effective deterrent to crime. By passing these death penalty laws today, Papua New Guinea will find it is on the losing side of history,” said Arradon.  

Amnesty International considers the death penalty to be the ultimate denial of human rights, and opposes it in all cases without exception regardless of the nature of the crime, the characteristics of the offender, or the method used by the state to kill the prisoner.

Source: http://www.amnesty.org/en/news/papua-new-guinea-repeals-sorcery-act-while-moving-closer-executions-2013-05-28

Dodoma: Tibaijuka warns against land sale deals with foreigners

Written by DAILY NEWS Reporters.

THE government has reaffirmed its stance that it will revoke land deals concluded between individual Tanzanians and foreigners.

Presenting budget estimates for the 2013/14 financial year, Minister for Lands, Housing and Human Settlement Development, Prof Anna Tibaijuka, told the National Assembly here that the government will not tolerate people selling land to outsiders.

“The government is aware that foreigners, especially from the East African region have been sneaking in the country in an attempt to acquire land illegally with the help from local and dishonest officials,” she said.

“It is against the law for individuals to sell land to foreigners laws. I appeal to Tanzanians to realise that the laws on the land are still intact and applicable. The law doesn’t give room for individuals to sell land to foreigners,” she said.

She told the august House that a foreigner cannot be allowed to possess land in Tanzania unless he or she is an investor and has followed the required procedure, warning that individuals and officials who will be caught illegally selling land to foreigners will be taken to task.

She further said that the government will continue to strengthen land councils from the village to the national level and empower them to resolve land conflicts which are on the increase countrywide.

Prof Tibaijuka also called on councils in the country to enforce planning of cities, municipalities and towns laws and stick to urban planning and building regulations to avoid shoddy projects which have in recent years resulted into the collapse of buildings, especially in Dar es Salaam city.

“I also call for the fast development of areas to be used in the establishment of satellite cities and towns to avoid congestion,” she said.

Presenting the views of the House Standing Committee on Lands, Natural Resources and Environment, Dr Mary Mwanjelwa (Special Seats—CCM), said the government should ensure that land benefited all Tanzanians and not be sold to foreigners in the name of ‘investment.’

She also called on the government to demolish the condemned 16-storey building under construction close to a similar building which collapsed in April, killing at least 30 people.

On April, 5, Tibaijuka ordered the demolition of the building, giving a 30-day ultimatum, but nothing has happened to date, which prompted the committee to question the powers of the central government vis-à-vis local governments.

Source: http://dailynews.co.tz/index.php/parliament-news/17974-prof-tibaijuka-warns-against-land-sale-deals-with-foreigners

Dodoma: Speaker orders report on extrajudicial police killings

BY THE GUARDIAN REPORTER.

National Assembly Speaker Anne Makinda has ordered the government to issue a statement on the killing of civilians carried out by police in a bid to clear the air on the matter.

The order came in response to a point raised by Hamad Rashid Mohamed (Wawi, CUF), who sought the Speaker’s guidance following a statement issued by the deputy minister for Home Affairs, Perreira Ame Silima.

Minister Silima had claimed in the statement that some of the killings by police are within legal provisions and as such were not against the law.

“The country’s Constitution provides that the death penalty should be passed by the High Court and needs the President’s signature to be executed. Now the deputy minister says some of the killings by police are legal, I request your guidance,” Hamad Rashid asked.

“In accordance to the Parliamentary Standing Orders, the deputy minister is to furnish the official government stand on the matter,” ordered the Speaker of the National Assembly in response. 

While responding to a supplementary question by Ali Rashid Abdallah (Tumbe, CUF), deputy minister Silima had earlier conceded before the House that on various occasions, police had indeed killed civilians but that the killings of unarmed civilians were in certain cases ‘within the context of the law’.

“Police kill people in different circumstances, but they are operating within the provisions of the law …,” Silima alleged.

He added: “When it is proved that they acted contrary to the law, serious legal measures are taken against them.”

In response, to a question by Khalifa Suleiman Khalifa, (Gando, CUF) who wanted to know the number of such incidents, deputy minister Silima revealed that in the span of two years, 2010 to 2012, 68, civilians were killed by police while 21 officers also lost their lives, bringing the total number of extrajudicial deaths during the period to 89. 

“Following those incidences, 15 police officers were arraigned and faced murder charges for their failure to conform to the laws and guidelines of their offices,” Silima said.

Also, two cases are still in court and four await the Attorney General’s decision while seven others are under investigation and four more are undergoing inquisition, whereas in one other case the charged officer has been set free. 

SOURCE: THE GUARDIAN: http://www.ippmedia.com/frontend/index.php?l=55250

Man arrested over soldier knife attack in Paris

French police have arrested a 22-year-old man in connection with a knife attack on a soldier near Paris on Saturday, officials say.

The suspect was detained on Wednesday morning in Yvelines, 45km (28 miles) southwest of the capital, Interior Minister Manuel Valls said.

Private First Class Cedric Cordier was stabbed in the neck while on patrol.

French anti-terrorist investigators are handling the case, saying the soldier was targeted because of his profession.

The suspect was traced thanks to DNA left at the scene, unnamed police sources told the AFP news agency.

Witnesses had earlier described the attacker as a bearded man of North African origin.

The man was monitored on security cameras and seen taking off his robe and running away wearing European clothes, officials said.

But Mr Walls warned against jumping to early conclusions.

"I remain cautious," he told French media.

"We need to know more about his motives, his background, his family environment."

Pfc Cordier was approached from behind and stabbed in the neck with a small-bladed knife in the La Defense business district on Saturday.

The 23-year-old victim was in a stable condition after the attack, police said.

Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-22699156

Child-selling Doctor Jailed in Algeria

An Algerian doctor has been sentenced to 12 years in jail for abducting children born to single mothers and selling them in France for adoption.

An Algiers court found Khelifa Hanouti guilty of illegally transferring children to the city of Saint-Etienne.

A notary received five years for his involvement. Another six people were jailed in absentia to 10 years.

The case came to light in 2009 after a woman died during an abortion at an illegal clinic belonging to Hanouti.

In total, 13 people had gone on trial for allegedly belonging to a child trafficking ring composed of both French and Algerian nationals.

In Tuesday's ruling, one defendant was acquitted, while the remaining four were given suspended jail sentences. All those sentenced also received fines.

The six jailed in absentia are French suspects of Algerian origin currently living in Saint-Etienne.

Falsified documents

Hanouti was arrested in 2009 after Algeria's security services dismantled the network thought to have been operating since the 1990s.

He was accused of impersonating an obstetrician and running an abortion clinic in the Algiers suburb of Ain Taya.

Read More: http://www.standardmedia.co.ke/m/story.php?articleID=2000084724&story_title=Child-selling-doctor-jailed

Twenty sentenced over US embassy attack in Tunis

Twenty people received a two-year suspended prison sentence on Tuesday for their part in a deadly attack on the US embassy in Tunisia last year, their lawyer said.

"They all got a two-year suspended sentence," said lawyer Anouar Ouled Ali.

"We will see with their families if they want to appeal. If they want to, we will do it," he added.

The verdict, which was not made public, came after only half a day, an unusually short trial in the north African country.

Hundreds of angry Islamist protesters attacked the US mission in Tunis on September 14 after an American-made film mocking their religion was published on the Internet.

Four of the assailants were killed and dozens wounded in the violence, which saw protesters storm the embassy and torch a neighbouring American school.

Questioned individually by the judge, the accused denied having taken part in the protest or attacking the embassy and the police.

Tunisian judicial rulings are not usually announced in court.

Defence lawyers strongly criticised the trial and the main charges, including premeditated attacks organised by an armed gang, with sentences ranging from five years in jail to possible death penalties.

No executions have been carried out in Tunisia since 1991 and death sentences are rarely pronounced.

"These protests were part of a spontaneous reaction throughout the (Muslim) world against attacks on our sacred symbols," said one of the defence lawyers, Slah Barakati.

He demanded that charges be dropped, saying that the trial was a result of the Tunisian judiciary bowing to pressure from the West.

"These Tunisians are in court to please the United States and the European Union," Barakati told the judge.

Another lawyer criticised the "confessions extracted by the police under pressure and threats".

The government has accused Saif Allah Bin Hussein, a former Al-Qaeda fighter in Afghanistan known as Abu Iyadh who heads Tunisia's main Salafist movement Ansar al-Sharia, of orchestrating the embassy attack.

Abu Iyadh has been on the run from the police since September, but none of the movement's leaders have been tried for the embassy attack.

Tunisia has been rocked by waves of violence blamed on radical Islamists since the 2011 revolution that overthrew the regime of strongman Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, culminating in the embassy attack.

The coalition government, led by Islamist party Ennahda, was sharply criticised last year for failing to rein in the extremists and prevent the violence.

But in recent months it has taken a much tougher stand, especially since the discovery in April of jihadist groups on the border with Algeria with links to Al-Qaeda.

Earlier this month one person was killed and about 20 wounded in clashes between police and Ansar al-Sharia supporters.

Source: http://www.france24.com/en/20130529-jail-sentenced-usa-embassy-attack-tunisia-islamists-film-salafists

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