Politics

Prominent Algeria opposition leader arrested as government clamps down on protesters

Published

2 years ago

April 30, 2022

One of Algeria’s leading opposition figures, Karim Tabbou, has been arrested and detained by the government in what human rights group say is a new wave of clamp on opposition figures.

Tabbou who was arrested on Friday, according to Algeria’s Human Rights League (LADDH) in a post on its Facebook page,
is one of the “country’s most-recognizable faces during unprecedented mass rallies, led by the Hirak pro-democracy movement, that began in February 2019.”

“The movement has consistently demanded a sweeping overhaul of the ruling system in place since the country’s independence from France in 1962,” it added.

“Mr. Tabbou has been detained since Friday evening. We still don’t know the reasons for this new arrest,” the rights group said.

On Tuesday, Tabbou had published on his Facebook page an “homage” to another activist, Hakim Debbazi, who reportedly died in detention after his arrest in February.

“Physically dead, the martyrs of the just causes are more than alive,” Tabbou had posted.

He went on to blame the Algerian authorities for the death of Debbazi whom he described as a “modest and humble” activist who “committed body and soul to the Hirak.”

Tabbou who leads a small, unregistered opposition party, the Democratic Social Union (UDS), has had several brushes with the authorities in the past.

In March 2020, he was sentenced to one year in jail for “undermining national security,” but the conviction was seen as a backlash from his constant criticism of the army’s involvement in politics.

He was also detained and released on other occasions, including just before last June’s parliamentary election which the Hirak boycotted.

The Hirak protests had forced longtime president Abdelaziz Bouteflika to step down while demonstrations have continued in a push for deep reforms.

More than 300 people are currently detained in Algeria over links to the Hirak or rights activism, another rights group, the National Committee for the Release of Detainees (CNLD) said in a statement.

Related Topics:Algeria Featured Opposition Protesters

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Politics

Kenya: Senior ICC prosecutor drops probe into 2007 post-election violence

Published

17 hours ago

November 28, 2023

Ifeoluwa Dada

A senior official of the International Criminal Court (ICC), Nazhat Shameen Khan has announced an end to all further investigations into crimes committed in Kenya relating to violence that erupted following elections in 2007.

The ICC Deputy Chief Prosecutor said the 13-year legal saga, which involved senior Kenyan politicians, had been dropped

“I have reached this decision after considering the specific facts and circumstances of this situation,” she said in a statement.

“Accordingly, the Office will not pursue additional cases into the alleged criminal responsibility of other persons.”

Prosecutors claim that during the nation’s post-election violence in 2010, some 600,000 people were left homeless, and 1,300 people killed in a case in which suspects included former and current Kenyan presidents, Uhuru Kenyatta and President William Ruto. The Hague-based tribunal began looking into the incident in 2010. Six suspects were initially charged with crimes against humanity, which included deportation and murder.

However, in 2014, former chief prosecutor Fatou Bensouda dropped the charges against Kenyatta, and in 2016, the prosecution’s case against Ruto was also dropped due to insufficient evidence. The lack of evidence caused the case against all six to fall apart.

Prosecutors opened a new investigation into witness intimidation and bribery after Bensouda claimed that an unrelenting campaign of intimidation against victims and witnesses prevented a trial.

Decades after the “third wave of democratisation,” widespread violence still occurs in sub-Saharan Africa after elections. Nigeria, Ivory Coast, and Zimbabwe, among others, have had their share of election conflicts.

Kenya is still not free from election disturbances, as levels of violence also played out during and after the 2022 elections.

Politics

Sierra Leonean govt finally labels weekend attack ‘failed coup’

Published

21 hours ago

November 28, 2023

Ifeoluwa Dada

The Sierra Leonean government has finally labelled attacks on several locations in the capital, Freetown, on Sunday as failed attempt to overthrow the government, having previously refraining from so classifying it.

Authorities in the West African nation said that gunmen stormed a military barracks, a prison, and other locations on Sunday, freeing roughly 2,200 prisoners and leaving over 20 people dead. On Monday, everything had returned to normal.

“The incident was a failed attempted coup. The intention was to illegally subvert and overthrow a democratically elected government,” said President Julius Bio.

“The attempt failed, and plenty of the leaders are either in police custody or on the run. We will try to capture them and bring them to the full force of the laws of Sierra Leone.”

The tense situation in Sierra Leone, which is still recuperating from a civil war that claimed over 50,000 lives between 1991 and 2002, has persisted since Bio was re-elected in June.

International allies, such as the US and the EU, questioned the outcome, and the major opposition candidate rejected it.