Category: Judiciary - Page 7 - African News Today

1Jun

By Obiajulu Joel NwoluNo Comments

Corruption, Finance, Judiciary, News, Nigeria

Okorocha Gets Bail, Leaves EFCC Custody

A Federal High Court in Abuja on Tuesday ordered a former governor of Imo State and presidential aspirant of the All Progressives Congress, Rochas Okorocha, to remain in custody until he perfects the conditions attached to his bail. Justice Inyang Ekwo made the order after admitting the ex-governor to bail in the sum of N500m and one surety in the like sum. Admitted also to bail by Justice Inyang Ekwo is his co-accused, Anyim Nyerere, who was sighted in a 17-count that majored on money laundering. For Nyerere, the court ordered that he should continue on the administrative bail granted him by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission for exhibiting good conduct while on bail. The court ordered that Okorocha’s surety must have a property in Abuja not below N500m and the ...

Egypt Jails Ex-presidential Candidate For 15 Years

30May

By Chukwuebuka FestusNo Comments

Egypt, Judiciary, News

Egypt Jails Ex-presidential Candidate For 15 Years

An Egyptian court sentenced former presidential candidate Abdel Moneim Aboul Fotouh and several prominent figures from the banned Muslim Brotherhood to lengthy jail terms on Sunday on accusations including plotting to overthrow the state. Aboul Fotouh, who is in his early 70s and according to his family suffers from several medical conditions, was sentenced to 15 years in prison, subject to appeal, the court ruling said. Rights groups say thousands of politicians, activists and journalists are detained in Egypt after unfair trials or without legal basis. Aboul Fotouh quit the Muslim Brotherhood in 2011 after disagreements over the role of religion in politics and founded the more centrist Strong Egypt party, launching an independent bid for the presidency in 2012. The inte...

BREAKING: Federal High Court Soft-pedals On Nnamdi Kanu’s Trial

18May

By Obiajulu Joel NwoluNo Comments

Judiciary, News, Nigeria

BREAKING: Federal High Court Soft-pedals On Nnamdi Kanu’s Trial

The authorities of the Federal High Court in Abuja have soft-pedaled on the stringent conditions imposed on the trial of the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB, Nnamdi Kanu. Against their last month's decision, the court authorities have stopped the movement of the trial to the Code of Conduct Tribunal, CCT, at Jabi District of Abuja. Also, the authorities of the Court have permitted the media to witness the treasonable felony charges brought against the Biafra nation agitator by the Federal Government. At the time of this report, fully armed operatives of the Department of State Services, DSS, have taken perfect control of the security situations within and outside the court premises. Journalists, lawyers, litigants, as well as workers are being allowed into ...

DR Congo Policeman Sentenced To Death For Murder

13May

By Chukwuebuka FestusNo Comments

Congo, Crime, Judiciary, Justice, News

DR Congo Policeman Sentenced To Death For Murder

A Congolese military court has sentenced a high-ranking policeman to death for his role in the 2010 murder of human rights activist Floribert Chebeya, which caused national outrage. Commissioner of police Christian Ngoy Kenga Kenga was found guilty of murder, desertion and misappropriation of weapons and ammunition. Mr Chebeya's body was found bound and gagged in his car in Kinshasa. There is a moratorium on capital punishments in DR Congo. However, the death penalty has not been abolished and military courts continue to hand down such sentences. Another policeman, Jacques Migabo, was also sentenced to 12 years during the trial. He admitted to having strangled Mr Chebeya and his driver, Fidèle Bazana. Police commissioner Paul Mwilambwe, who had been a key witness ...

Senegal: Three Midwives Convicted Over Death Of Pregnant Woman

12May

By Chukwuebuka FestusNo Comments

Judiciary, Justice, News, Senegal

Senegal: Three Midwives Convicted Over Death Of Pregnant Woman

People demonstrate during a sit-in to demand justice for Astou Sokhna and call for a more humane and patient-friendly health care system at the Place de la Nation in Dakar Three Senegalese midwives involved in the death of a woman in labour have been found guilty of not assisting someone in danger. They received six-month suspended sentences, after Astou Sokhna, died while reportedly begging for a Caesarean. Her unborn child also died. Three other midwives who were also on trial were not found guilty The case caused a national outcry with President Macky Sall ordering an investigation. Mrs Sokhna was in her 30s when she passed away at a hospital in the northern town of Louga. During her reported 20-hour labour ordeal, her pleas to doctors to carry out a Caesarean were i...

Burkina Orders Compaore To Pay Damages Over Sankara Killings

11May

By Chukwuebuka FestusNo Comments

Burkina Faso, Judiciary, Justice, News

Burkina Orders Compaore To Pay Damages Over Sankara Killings

Former President Blaise Compaore A court in Burkina Faso on Tuesday ordered ex-president Blaise Compaore and nine others to pay more than a million dollars in damages to relatives of revolutionary leader Thomas Sankara and aides who were assassinated in 1987. The order comes after a trial last month that sentenced the group to long jail terms, ending a case that afflicted the Sahel state for 34 years. A former comrade-in-arms of Sankara, Compaore took power during a putsch on the day of the assassination, ruling until 2014, when he was toppled by mass protests and fled abroad. Judge Urbain Meda, presiding over a military court in the capital Ouagadougou, ordered payment of 807.5 million CFA francs $1.3 million to relatives of the 12 people who were gunned down alongside ...

Kenyan Cleric Refuses To Leave Jail After Release

7May

By Chukwuebuka FestusNo Comments

Judiciary, Kenya, News

Kenyan Cleric Refuses To Leave Jail After Release

A Muslim cleric in Kenya has asked a court not to free him from jail despite being acquitted of terrorism charges. Guyo Gorsa Buru said he feared he could be abducted and killed by state agents once released as is alleged has happened to other terror suspects. He was arrested in 2018 and charged with possessing material that promoted a terrorist group and for collaborating with Somalia-based al-Shabab militants. The court in the capital has allowed him to remain in custody for 30 days. Earlier, a chief magistrate at Nairobi's Milimani law courts ruled that the state had failed to prove its case against Sheikh Buru. His lawyer has asked the High Court for the guarantee of state protection for his client once freed. Read Also: Catholic Priest, Others Convicted Over Alb...

Gabonese Football President Arrested In Child Sex Abuse Scandal

6May

By Chukwuebuka FestusNo Comments

Gabon, Judiciary, News, Sports

Gabonese Football President Arrested In Child Sex Abuse Scandal

The president of the Gabonese Football Federation (Fégafoot), Pierre-Alain Mounguengui, has been arrested after being charged with failing to report allegations of sexual abuse of hundreds of children in the sport. The scandal, revealed by the British daily The Guardian in December 2021, broke when Patrick Assoumou Eyi, coach of the national under-17 team until 2017 and a well-known figure in Gabonese soccer circles under the nickname "Capello", was jailed after being accused of hundreds of rapes and sexual assaults on children for whom he was responsible in his duties for several years. Assoumou Eyi was, since 2017 and until his arrest, technical director of the soccer league of Estuaire, the province of the capital, Libreville. Since his arrest, two club coaches, Orph...

Senegal: Health Workers Strike Over Death of Pregnant Woman

25Apr

By Chukwuebuka FestusNo Comments

Judiciary, Justice, Labour, News, Senegal, Women Empowerment

Senegal: Health Workers Strike Over Death of Pregnant Woman

Health workers in Senegal went on strike to protest at charges filed against six midwives accused of negligence in the death of pregnant woman that sparked nationwide anger. The National Association of Midwives and several other groups in the health sector said they were joining a work stoppage ranging from one to three days. The public health system has been “paralysed,” Mballo Dia Thiam at an umbrella group of healthcare workers called ASAS, said. The health ministry, gave no details about the impact of the strike, saying only that it had “taken steps.” The affair was sparked by the death of a nine-months-pregnant woman named Astou Sokhna at a public hospital in the northern town of Louga. She repeatedly pleaded with doctors to perform a caesarean secti...

Court Sacks Ex-Speaker, Dogara For Defecting To APC

23Apr

By Obiajulu Joel NwoluNo Comments

Judiciary, Legislature, News, Nigeria

Court Sacks Ex-Speaker, Dogara For Defecting To APC

The Federal High Court sitting in Abuja, on Friday, declared the seat of the former Speaker of the House of Representatives, Hon. Yakubu Dogara, vacant, following his defection from the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, to the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC. The court, in a judgement that was delivered by Justice Donatus Okorowo, held that Dogara, having abandoned the political party that sponsored his election, ought to vacate his seat in line with the provisions of sections 68(1) (g) and 109 (1) (g) of the 1999 Constitution, as amended. His sack followed a suit marked FHC/ABJ/CS/1060/2020, which was lodged before the court by the PDP. It will be recalled that Dogara was in 2019, re-elected on the platform of the PDP to represent Dass, Tafawa Balewa and Bogoro Federal Co...