Banjul, Gambia | AFP | The Gambia’s new president has fired the head of the national prison system, officials said Sunday, taking aim at a service denounced for alleged abuses under the former regime. President Adama Barrow on Friday “sacked David Colley, the director-general of the Gambia Prison Service”, a …
Read More »US Supreme Court blocks death sentence over racial bias
Washington, United States | AFP | The US Supreme Court on Wednesday offered at least a temporary reprieve to a Texas death row inmate, agreeing that racial bias affected his sentence after a psychologist testified he was more likely to commit future crimes because he is black. The guilt of …
Read More »Gambia to remain in ICC, notifies UN of change
Banjul, Gambia | AFP | The Gambia’s new government has asked the United Nations to halt the process of withdrawal from the International Criminal Court (ICC) begun by the regime of former leader Yahya Jammeh. The Hague-based court, set up in 2002, is often accused of bias against African nations, …
Read More »US appeals court rules against Trump on travel ban
Los Angeles, United States | AFP | A US court on Thursday unanimously refused to reinstate Donald Trump’s ban on refugees and nationals from seven Muslim-majority countries, dealing the new president and his controversial law-and-order agenda a major defeat. The ruling from the federal appeals court in San Francisco on …
Read More »Trump blasts ‘so-called judge’ over travel ban reversal
Palm Beach, United States | AFP | The US government began to roll back Donald Trump’s contentious travel ban targeting citizens from seven majority-Muslim countries Saturday, after a stinging legal defeat for the new president. Government agencies and major global airlines said they would recognize valid visas and cease enforcing …
Read More »Kenya court blocks deportation of South Sudanese opponents
Nairobi, Kenya | AFP | A Kenyan court on Friday issued an order blocking the deportation of two South Sudanese opposition figures after an outcry by rights groups over treatment they would face at home. The families of prominent lawyer and activist Dong Samuel Luak and opposition member Aggrey Idri …
Read More »Reports says Snowden a ‘fabricator’ in contact with Russian intel
Washington, United States | AFP | A scathing US Congressional report released Thursday branded intelligence leaker Edward Snowden a “serial exaggerator and fabricator” and said he has had continual contact with Russian intelligence services. The partially redacted report, released by the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, portrays Snowden as …
Read More »Survivors of LRA massacre watch their tormentor’s trial
Lukodi, Uganda | AFP | Alanyo Juzima wipes the tears from her eyes and points at the flickering image of a smartly-dressed man in a suit projected onto the classroom wall. “He’s the one,” she says. Juzima scrutinises the picture in front of her, of Dominic Ongwen in the dock …
Read More »France upholds 25-year jail term for Rwanda genocide convict
Bobigny, France | AFP | A French court on Saturday upheld a 25 year prison sentence handed to a former Rwandan intelligence agent jailed in France’s first trial over the African country’s 1994 genocide. Pascal Simbikangwa was found guilty of genocide and complicity in crimes against humanity in a landmark …
Read More »Prosecutor Bensouda vows to press on despite Africa ICC withdrawals
The Hague, Netherlands | AFP | The International Criminal Court’s chief prosecutor has described decisions by three African countries to withdraw as a “setback”, as she vowed that the tribunal will continue its work on the continent. “You could expect a setback as the ICC started to make more progress,” …
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