Category: Legal Rights

LONDON— Campaigners on Wednesday launched a court bid to block UK government’s plans to send asylum seekers to Rwanda as it attempts to stop migrant boat crossings from France.

The government in London said last month that it intends to fly a first planeload of asylum-seekers to Rwanda on June 14.

But the Public and Commercial Services Union (PCS), Care4Calais and Detention Action have now issued judicial review proceedings in the High Court against what they call an “unlawful policy”.

James Wilson, deputy director of Detention Action, said interior minister Priti Patel had “overstepped her authority”.

“By rushing through what we say is an unlawful policy, she is turning a blind eye to the many clear dangers and human rights violations that it would inflict on people seeking asylum,” he said.

“It’s vital that new government policies respect and uphold the laws that we all, as a society, have agreed to follow. That’s why we’re seeking an injunction to keep this plane to Rwanda from leaving the runway,” he added.

The one-way flights are intended to deter others from entering Britain, especially via dangerous crossings of the Channel.

More than 10,000 migrants have made the journey so far this year.

Confirming the target date for the first time, Patel acknowledged the new policy was set to face challenges in the courts.

In a statement, she said: “I will not be deterred and remain fully committed to delivering what the British public expect.”

The Home Office has sent out the first notices to asylum claimants who are earmarked for removal to Rwanda, under a partnership worth £120 million ($151 million) to Kigali.

Clare Moseley, founder of Care4Calais, said most of those being detained pending their removal are “overwhelmed by total shock and despair”.

“Many came to the UK believing it to be a good place that would treat them more fairly than the places from which they escaped,” she said.

“We say that the Rwanda plan is unlawful. We hope the courts will agree with us.”

Source: NAM NEWS NETWORK

Tripoli- The President of the Supreme Council of State, “Khaled Al-Mashri,” met today, Monday, the President of the Supreme Court of Judiciary, “Mohamed Al-Hafi”, at the council’s headquarters in Tripoli.

During the meeting, Al-Mashri stressed the independence of the judiciary and keeping it away from political quarrels. In order to exercise its role with integrity and transparency in the separation of powers and the decision on them, stressing in the same context the important role of the judiciary in the service of the country.

During the meeting, a number of issues related to legal and judicial files were also discussed, especially the findings of the committees of the Supreme Council of State and the House of Representatives in Cairo regarding the constitutional path and its success. For the purpose of reaching the minimum level of consensus, in preparation for reaching the electoral benefits that the Libyan people aspire to on sound constitutional and legal foundations.

Source: Libyan News Agency

Tripoli- the Tripoli Court of Appeal postponed the pronouncement of the verdict in the case of abuse of Abu Salim prison until mid-June next.

The Tripoli Appeals Court announced a date to pronounce the verdict against the accused in the Abu Salim massacre until next June, in the presence of the victims’ families.

It is noteworthy that the Ninth Circuit of the Tripoli Appeals Court had issued a ruling on December 15, 2019 to drop the charges against the defendants in the Abu Salim prison case, which claimed the lives of more than 1,200 prisoners during the Gaddafi era, due to the expiry of the litigation period.

Source: Libyan News Agency

CONAKRY— Colonel Mamady Doumbouya, the head of Guinea’s military junta, said Saturday he had opted for a 39-month transitional period before a return to civilian rule.

He made the announcement in a speech broadcast on television, saying the National Transition Council (CNT) would put the proposal to parliament.

The announcement came after the creation of what the regime has described as an “inclusive consultation framework” in April.

That culminated in a conference boycotted by several prominent political groups.

On Friday, the army-dominated government said that the forum considering the issue had considered a transition period of between 18 and 52 months.

Doumbouya, in Saturday’s speech, described the period he had opted for as the “median proposal”.

Regional bloc ECOWAS had set last Monday as a deadline for putting forward an “acceptable” transition timetable or risk economic and financial sanctions.

Guinea’s ruling military junta let the deadline pass, however, asking the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) for more time for consultations to continue.

ECOWAS has called for an “acceptable” timeline for a return to civilian rule, failing which it has threatened to extend sanctions applied to Guinea following the military coup there.

In September 2021, army officers led by Colonel Mamady Doumbouya ousted elected Alpha Conde in the impoverished former French colony. Conde, 84, had drawn fierce opposition after he pushed through a new constitution in 2020 that allowed him to run for a third presidential term.

Following the coup, ECOWAS called for a return to civilian rule within six months.

Although many Guineans initially welcomed the coup, there is growing discontent against the junta in the nation of 13 million people.

Guinea’s coup last September came on the heels of a military takeover in Mali.

ECOWAS has applied sanctions on members of the Mali junta, shut its borders with the country, frozen its assets at the Central Bank of West African States and imposed a trade embargo.

For Guinea, leading junta members have been sanctioned and are subject to a travel ban within the bloc.

A third ECOWAS member, Burkina Faso, experienced a coup in January.

It has so far escaped the sanctions handed out to Guinea and Mali but was also given until last Monday to spell out an “acceptable transition timetable”.

The Burkinabe junta has said it stands by a three-year schedule for holding elections, arguing that it first has to deal with a bloody jihadist insurgency.

Source: NAM NEWS NETWORK

A high court in Malawi has convicted five people of murder for the 2018 killing of a 22-year-old albino man, including the victim’s brother. The court convicted seven other people of selling the victim’s body parts.

Malawi officials say more than 170 albinos have been attacked in the country since 2014 by people who believe their body parts bring luck and wealth.

Family members of the deceased, MacDonald Masambuka, left the courtroom Thursday with hopes of justice being served after the court convicted all 12 people accused in his death.

Family members, including Masambuka’s mother, appeared calm and composed as Judge Dorothy NyaKaunda Kamanga read the judgments.

Those convicted included a Catholic priest, Father Thomas Muhosa, police officer Chikondi Chileka, clinician Lumbani Kamanga, and the deceased’s brother, Cassim Masambuka. Charges included murder, extracting human tissues, causing harm to a person with disability, and trafficking in persons.

Kamanga convicted the victim’s brother and four others of murder.

The court convicted seven other people, including the priest and police officer, of selling the victim’s body parts.

Business with tissue

According to the court, Muhosha, Chileka and others offered to conduct business using human tissue extracted from a human corpse.

The judge said the state proved beyond reasonable doubt the 12 people conspired to kill Masambuka to extract his bones based on a perception they would benefit financially.

She said Masambuka is the latest victim of violent attacks on persons with albinism who have not been protected by the community.

Director of Public Prosecutions Steve Kayuni represented the state in the case. He said he was pleased the court agreed on all the seven charges he presented.

“It’s really something overwhelming on the part of the state considering that this matter, if you notice, there is a police officer involved, a priest involved and there is a brother involved. If you notice, it all revolves around the position of trust — that somebody like the late Macdonald Masambuka trusted so much, they are the ones who ended up betraying him,” Kayuni said.

Masambuka went missing from his village on March 9, 2018, and his limbless body was found buried in a garden on April 2, 2018, in his home district of Machinga south of Malawi.

Enticement

Court documents show that Masambuka was enticed by his brother to meet his friends, who he claimed had found a girl for him to marry.

But when they reached the scene, the alleged friends grabbed Masambuka by the neck and dragged him to a garden where they killed him. Here, his assailants cut off his limbs, burned his body using petrol and buried it there.

This was the first such case involving high-profile community members involved in attacks on persons with albinism.

Masauko Chamkakala, the lawyer for the 12 defendants in the case, said he would comment once he had gone through the judgment.

“We are still waiting to see the perfected judgment so that we can read it and study it and talk to our clients,” Chamkakala said.

Rights activists said they expected the court to give stiffer punishment to those convicted.

‘Serious sentencing’

Ian Simbota represented the Association of Persons with Albinism at the court.

“When the judge was reading, what concerned me was that part of a [Priest] Father Muhosha [and others] who have been convicted of transacting body parts. If you go to the Anatomy Act, it is not so hard on such offenses. So, we are really looking forward to the judge, if at all it’s possible, to put a human face to the case so that at least we really need to see serious sentencing on this case,” Simbota said.

The high court is expected to sentence the perpetrators on May 30.

In another case, a high court on Thursday sentenced a 37-year-old man to life in prison for the 2020 murder of a 14-year-old-boy with albinism in Phalombe district.

Source: Voice of America