Category: Justice - Page 7 - African News Today

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 ...

Catholic Priest, Others Convicted Over Albino Murder In Malawi

30Apr

By Chukwuebuka FestusNo Comments

Crime, Justice, Life, Malawi, News, Violence

Catholic Priest, Others Convicted Over Albino Murder In Malawi

A Malawi Catholic priest, a policeman and a hospital worker are among a dozen convicted over the 2018 gruesome murder of a man with albinism. Five out of the 12 were found guilty of killing MacDonald Masambuka, 22, at the height of a crime spree that saw more than 40 murders and 145 assaults on people with the condition in the country. The priest, Masambuka’s brother, a police officer and a hospital employee were convicted of selling human body parts. “MacDonald was betrayed by those he had trust in, namely the brother, the priest, the policeman and the clinical officer. These are positions of trust,” said the country’s public prosecutions director Steve Kayuni. From 2014 Malawi suffered a wave of assaults over several years against people with albinism, whose body parts a...

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...

Chinese Businessman Jailed 20 years in Rwanda For Torturing Local Mineworkers

22Apr

By Chukwuebuka FestusNo Comments

African Development, Human Rights, Justice, News, Rwanda, Violence

Chinese Businessman Jailed 20 years in Rwanda For Torturing Local Mineworkers

A court in Rwanda has jailed a Chinese national for 20 years for torturing local mineworkers after a video showing him whipping a man tied to a post went viral on social media. Sun Shujun, the manager of a mine in the west of the country, was convicted on Tuesday along with an accomplice following his arrest last September. “It is clear that (Sun) tortured the victims and issued corporal punishment with malicious intent, and this is a grave crime,” Judge Jacques Kanyarukiga ruled, ordering him to serve a 20-year term in prison. Sun, who was in court for the verdict, acknowledged assaulting two workers, saying he beat them because he was “frustrated and fed up of them constantly stealing minerals”. The 43-year-old had argued for his release, saying he compensated the two by pay...

Why Osinachi’s Husband Has Not Been Arraigned –Police

21Apr

By Chinedu IbeakanmaNo Comments

Human Rights, Judiciary, Justice, News, Nigeria

Why Osinachi’s Husband Has Not Been Arraigned –Police

Justice The Nigeria Police Force on Wednesday said Peter Nwachukwu, the husband of the late gospel singer, Osinachi Nwachukwu, has not been charged to court because the police await the outcome of post-mortem examinations on the deceased to ascertain the cause of death. Force Public Relations Officer, Olumuyiwa Adejobi, made this known in a statement on Wednesday while giving an update on the matter. Adejobi also said the Inspector-General of Police, Usman Baba, received the Minister of Women Affairs, Dame Tallen, today in his office at the Louis Edet House, Force Headquarters, Abuja. “The Minister discussed amongst other things, the plight of women in Nigeria, particularly in relation to gender and domestic-based violence. She pointed out the recent case of the famous gospel ...

Zimbabwean Killed as Protest Rocks South Africa

8Apr

By Guest ContributorNo Comments

African Development, Human Rights, Law Enforcement, News, Safety, Security, South Africa, Violence, Zimbabwe

Zimbabwean Killed as Protest Rocks South Africa

A Zimbabwean man has been killed as irate protesters took to the streets of Johannesburg, South Africa to clamour for an end to violence and crime. This was contained in a statement issued by South African police on Thursday. According to the public channel SABC and another media, the victim is a Zimbabwean immigrant. The murder comes amid growing popular anger over high crime rates, sometimes directed at immigrants accused of fuelling them. Protests began Wednesday in the township of Diepsloot, after it was announced that seven people had been killed there last weekend. Protesters in South Africa Residents angry at the police for allegedly refusing to attend to one crime scene marched through the streets with chants and placards, burning tires and camping outside the local...

Court Sentences Ex-Burkina Faso President to Life Imprisonment

8Apr

By Guest ContributorNo Comments

Burkina Faso, Judiciary, Justice, News

Court Sentences Ex-Burkina Faso President to Life Imprisonment

A military court in Burkina Faso on Wednesday sentenced former president Blaise Campare to life imprisonment for the murder of his predecessor Thomas Sankara in a coup. The long-awaited verdict brought to close, a six-month trial about the murder of Mr Sankara, who was assassinated during a coup led by his friend and comrade-in-arms, Mr Compaoré, on October 15, 1987. Thomas Sankara Military prosecutors in Burkina Faso’s capital, Ouagadougou, had requested a 30-year sentence for Mr Compaoré, who was being tried alongside 13 others. Two other main suspects were also handed life imprisonment sentences. They are Gilbert Diendéré, one of the leaders of the 1987 putsch and leader of the 2015 coup, as well as Hyacinthe Kafando, leader of Mr Compaoré’s guards at the time. Mr Compao...

25 Nigerien Migrants Dumped in the Desert by Smugglers

6Apr

By Guest ContributorNo Comments

Human Rights, News, Niger, Safety, Security, United Nations, Youths

25 Nigerien Migrants Dumped in the Desert by Smugglers

At least twenty-five Niger migrants consisting of women and children have been rescued in the northern Niger desert after they were dumped by their driver. This was disclosed by the International Organization for Migration (IOM) in a statement issued on Tuesday. The migrants were rescued "last weekend in the Sahara desert by (teams of) IOM and the Directorate of Civil Protection of Niger," said the UN agency in a Facebook post. Nigerien Migrants Left in the Desert The survivors, whose destination was not specified, "remained without food and water for three days" before being found, said the IOM. Rescue operations for migrants are frequent in the hostile Nigerien desert, mainly in areas close to Libya. Many West African migrants try to cross through Libya to reach the Me...

Hushpuppi: AGF’s Office Exonerates Abba Kyari Of Money Laundering Allegation

14Mar

By Chinedu IbeakanmaNo Comments

Corruption, Crime, Judiciary, Justice, Law Enforcement, Nigeria, Uncategorized

Hushpuppi: AGF’s Office Exonerates Abba Kyari Of Money Laundering Allegation

A new twist into the $1.1million hushpuppi internet scam involving suspended Commander of the Police Intelligence Response Team, DCP Abba Kyari and fraudster, Ramon Abass aka Hushpuppi and other accomplices emerged at the weekend with the office of the Attorney General issuing new legal advice exonerating Kyari from money laundering allegations. The office of the AGF which in its first legal advice admitted that a prima- facie case of money laundering of 33 payments (proceeds of crime) was established by the DIG Joseph Egbunike led Special Investigation Panel against Kyari has now said, there are no links with Kyari following further investigations. Recall that Kyari and other defendants are currently in court on drugs and money laundering allegations at the Federal High Court A...