Egypt’s Brotherhood chief among 683 suspects sentenced to death

Egyptians react outside the courtroom in Egypt's southern province of Minya after an Egyptian court sentenced Muslim Brotherhood leader Mohamed Badie and other alleged Islamists to death on April 28, 2014.

MINYA, Egypt

An Egyptian court sentenced Muslim Brotherhood leader Mohamed Badie and 682 other alleged Islamists to death today, a lawyer and prosecutor said, after two brief sessions the defence partly boycotted.

The same court in the southern province of Minya also reversed 492 of 529 death sentences it passed in March, commuting most of those to life in prison.

The court, presided over by judge Said Youssef Sabry, had sparked an international outcry with its initial sentencing last month amid an extensive crackdown on supporters of ousted Islamist president Mohamed Morsy.

The crackdown has reached secular leaning dissidents who supported Morsy’s overthrow but have since turned on the army-installed regime.

In Cairo, a court banned the April 6 youth movement that spearheaded the 2011 revolt against strongman Hosni Mubarak, following a complaint accusing it of defaming Egypt and colluding with foreign parties.

In Minya, the judge is to confirm the death sentences on June 21.

Under Egyptian law, death sentences are referred to the top Islamic scholar for an advisory opinion before being ratified. A court may choose to commute the sentences, which can later be challenged at an appeals court.

Of the 683 sentenced on Monday, only about 50 are in custody. The others have a right to a retrial if they hand themselves in.

Monday’s hearing lasted just 10 minutes, said Khaled Elkomy, a defence lawyer who was in court.

The verdict was the first against Badie, spiritual head of Morsy’s Muslim Brotherhood, in the several trials he faces on various charges along with Morsy himself and other Brotherhood leaders.

Several female relatives waiting outside the courtroom fainted on hearing news of the verdict.

“Where is the justice?” others chanted. Some said family members had been unjustly convicted or put on trial. “My son does not even pray, he does not even know where the mosque is,” said one woman, whose son was among the 529 sentenced to death in March.

Karima Fadl, the mother of a man whose death sentence was commuted, said: “My son Khaled received a life sentence. “It is not better than a death sentence. It is still an injustice. He did nothing wrong.”

Those sentenced on Monday were accused of involvement in the murder and attempted murder of policemen in Minya province on August 14, the day police killed hundreds of Morsy supporters in clashes in Cairo.

Defence lawyers boycotted the last session, branding it “farcical” after the mass death sentencing which the United Nations denounced as a breach of international human rights law.

Lawyer Elkomy claims 60 percent of the 529 defendants, including teachers and some doctors, have evidence that “proves they were not present the day they were accused of attacking the Matay police station” in Minya, said the Avaaz human rights group.

The government has defended the court’s handling of the first mass death sentences, insisting the sentences were passed only “after careful study” and were subject to appeal.

Australian Navy seizes Sh24.9b heroin off Kenyan coast

 A screenshot of the article by Australian Broadcasting Corporation on the Sh24.9billion heroin seized by Australian Navy sailors on April 25, 2014. 

Australian Navy sailors have seized 46 sacks of heroin worth Sh24.9 billion ($290 million) from a boat off Kenyan coast.

According to Australian Broadcasting Corporation, the heroin was hidden among bags of cement.

In 2004, Sh6.4 billion cocaine was seized in Nairobi and Malindi and was said to be the largest haul to ever be netted in Africa.

Kenyan police also seized heroin worth $5.8 million on March 25, 2011 after it was sneaked into the country through an illegal landing bay along the coast.

The drug haul was being transported in two vehicles at Shanzu area, Mombasa when police struck at around 7pm on Thursday.

Three Kenyans, two Iranians and a Pakistani were arrested in the operation.

Do you know these children?

A group of lost children in an identification parade at the Milimani Commercial Courts in Nairobi on April 23, 2014. The children are being hosted at Nairobi Children’s Rescue Centre, Lower Kabete branch.
 A rescue centre in Nairobi has appealed to parents who have lost their children to visit it and establish if they could be part of a group currently in its custody.

Ms Jane Munuhe, a Child Protection Officer working with the Children Rescue Services, a Government centre is looking for the parents of the group of 22 children aged below 10 years and who were allegedly left or lost within the city centre in the last six months.

“Some kids are very small to even know the names of their relatives but with time they are able to identify them. However, the parents or relatives of these children must prove their relationship by producing relevant national documents. At times we even go for DNAs fully paid for by the government,” she said.

LOWER KABETE BRANCH

Ms Munuhe was speaking on Wednesday at a parade at Milimani Law Courts organised by Children’s Rescue Centre’s Lower Kabete branch to identify the children’s parents or relatives.

“I’m appealing to any person who may have lost a child within the last six months or even before; who may have information of someone who lost a child to come forward and identify their kin,” Ms Munuhe said.

The children in the group are: Brian Chaluo aged 6 years; Baraka, 8; Chris Obama Machanja, 5; Emanuel, 6; Derrick Otieno,7; Alfonso Ouma, 5; Junior Kaloki, 7; Joram Espira, 9; Tony (mentally challenged), 7; Hilda Akinyi, 6; Mitchele Obama, 6; Otieno, 3; Kevin, 4; Lavin Andizi, 6; Peter Akoth, 3; Rebecca, 3; Silah, 3; Wendy Atieno, 5; Wangare (Pamela Adhiambo), 7; Manu, 6; Opiyo, 7 and Kevin Kimani, 9.

Igad condemns killings in South Sudan

Members of the White Army, a South Sudanese anti-government militia, attend a rally in Nasir on April 14, 2014. Conflict in South Sudan has triggered a serious risk of famine that will kill up to 50,000 children within months if immediate action is not taken, the UN has warned. 

The Intergovernmental Authority on Development has condemned the spiraling violence in South Sudan and called on the international community to put pressure on President Salva Kiir’s government and rebels to stop the war.

In a statement Thursday, Igad Executive Secretary Ambassador Mahboub Maalim said the effects of five-month long violent conflict in South Sudan are catastrophic with thousands of lives lost and over a million people displaced.

"The conflict has also seriously disrupted economic activity and food production with imminent risk of serious famine. In this respect, the Executive Secretary calls on the international community to act now to put pressure on both parties to stop the war and prevent a deeper catastrophe from unfolding in South Sudan,” he stated.

He condemned the killing of 200 people in a Mosque in Benitu on April 15, 2014 and the April 17 attack in the UN Mission in South Sudan (Unmiss) compound in Bor that left 40 people dead.

“These recent incidents are particularly alarming as they involved deliberate targeting of civilians in massacre proportions,” he said.

Mr Maalim said the violence was also undermining the ongoing peace process and violates a Cessation of Hostilities Agreement signed by the Government of the Republic of South Sudan and the SPLM/A signed on January 23, 2014.

He urged the Sudanese government and rebels led by Riek Machar to demonstrate their commitment to the Igad-led mediation process saying it was the only viable means of resolving the conflict.

Ugandan troops capture LRA commander, free 10 hostages

                                                  Ugandan soldiers patrol the central African jungle during an operation 

KAMPALA, Tuesday

Ugandan troops have captured a fugitive Lord’s Resistance Army rebel officer and freed 10 hostages, the army said Tuesday, after battles with the elusive jungle insurgents.

Charles Okello was captured in the southeast of the Central African Republic, army spokesman Paddy Ankunda told AFP, describing him as a field commander of the “notorious” LRA.

“Most importantly we released 10 people, seven children and three women, who had been held hostage for six months,” he told AFP.

The Ugandan army is leading a US-backed African Union force tasked with capturing the LRA’s leaders, several of whom are wanted for war crimes by the International Criminal Court in The Hague.

Rebel chief Joseph Kony, who launched a rebellion in Uganda two decades ago, is wanted by the ICC along with fellow top commanders on war crimes and crimes against humanity charges including murder, sexual slavery and using child soldiers.
 Long driven out of Uganda, LRA fighters now roam remote forest regions of CAR, Sudan, South Sudan and the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Second Somali MP killed in Mogadishu

An armed man stands in front of the remains of the car in which a Somali lawmaker was assassinated and another wounded on April 21, 2014, in Mogadishu, in the latest in a series of bomb attacks in the war-ravaged capital.

MOGADISHU, Tuesday

Unknown gunmen shot dead a Somali lawmaker on Tuesday in Mogadishu, capital of Somalia, who was the second Somali member of parliament (MP) killed in 24 hours, Radio Mogadishu reported.

Lawmaker Abdelaziz Isaq Mursal was shot dead as he left his home in the western district of Dherkenlay in Mogadishu, according to the report.

"The attackers escaped in a vehicle after the killing. Somali security forces arrived in the scene of the incident," Radio Mogadishu reported.

The killing of the MP comes a day after lawmaker Isaq Mohamed Riino was killed in a car bomb explosion.

PUSH OUT AL-SHABAAB

Islamist militant group Al-Shabaab has claimed responsibility for the killing of Riino and the militants vowed to continue targeting Somali government officials.

The killing of the MP was widely condemned by the Somali government, UN envoy and African Union Mission in Somalia (Amisom).

Somali Prime Minister Abdiweli Sheikh Ahmed said the killing was a cowardly act and vowed to bring to justice those behind the deadly bomb blast.

UN Somalia envoy Nicholas Kay described the killing as a terrorist act and called for a "full investigation" of the assassination of Riino while Amisom said the assassination was "unacceptable" as representatives of the Somali people, "any attack on MPs is an attack on the people."

Somali government officials vowed to tackle insecurity in Mogadishu which has lately been witnessing intermittent explosions and targeted killings of both civilians and government officials.

The extremist Al-Shabaab group has been pushed out of several key areas in the south and center of Somalia by Somali government and Amisom forces.

I won’t choose successor, Mugabe says

Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe lights the flame of independence during celebrations held to mark the country's 34th independence anniversary on April 18, 2014 in Harare.

HARARE

Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe says he will not appoint a successor as jostling for his post continues to intensify.

President Mugabe told Ghanian-born British filmmaker Roy Agyemang in a BBC documentary that he had assessed his potential successors but wanted Zimbabweans to choose their next leader.

“I have people in mind who would want to be. But I have looked at them.

“I have not come to any conclusion as to which one, really, should be. I leave it to the choice of people. Perhaps when we get close to the election I will have some in mind,” he said

Zimbabwe will hold its next elections in 2018 but President Mugabe, who has been in power since 1980, has refused to talk about his retirement.

His Zanu PF party would hold an elective congress in December this year but his position is unlikely to be contested.

However, the party is reportedly divided into two factions, one that backs Vice President Joice Mujuru and Justice Minister Emmerson Mnangagwa to take over from President Mugabe.

The long time ruler recently told his clan that none of the touted successors were guaranteed of the top job.

“It must be leadership that derives from the people, chosen by the people, goes back to the people, listens to the people and is guided by the demands of the people,” he told the BBC.

President Mugabe has been accused of manipulating elections to remain in power despite reports of his failing health and waning popularity.

In the past, he has said that he would not retire as long as his party is divided and is facing disintegration.

Last year he won a presidential election overwhelmingly after stumbling in the 2008 polls where he lost the first round to longtime opponent Morgan Tsvangirai.

Zanu PF has also regained the two thirds majority it had lost to the opposition that same year.