Metro

Sudanese woman sentenced to six months in prison for kissing man

Published

2 years ago

December 16, 2022

A divorced Sudanese woman who admitted to kissing a man has been sentenced to six months in prison after she has earlier been sentenced to death on a charge of adultery.

The 20-year-old woman had her life spared on Friday after she was initially sentenced to death by stoning, sparking an international outcry as international organisations called for a review of the death sentence.

The unnamed woman was first arrested in 2021 after her cousin killed her boyfriend, and was sentenced to death after she was found guilty of adultery by a court in the city of Kosti, in Sudan’s White Nile state.

But following international condemnation and intervention from agencies like the African Centre for Justice and Peace Studies (ACJPS) which described the penalty as a “grave violation of international law”, the White Nile state court retried the case.

In the fresh trial, the presiding judge changed the charge from “adultery” to an “obscene act” which meant she would instead serve prison time for her actions after she confessed in court to being with a man and admitted that the pair had kissed.

“The thing is she confessed at the court that she was with a man, she is very young and she doesn’t know the complications of the case,” her lawyer, Intisar Abdullah, told reporters after the ruling.

Sudan is one of a handful of conservative Islamic countries that still imposes the death penalty for crimes referred to as “hudud” which are offences specified by Allah in the Quran, including theft and adultery.

In Sudanese law, some “hudud” offences carry penalties such as flogging, the amputation of hands and feet, hanging and stoning.

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Metro

Zambia’s ruling party UPND warns against personal attacks on President Hichilema

Published

6 hours ago

November 5, 2024

Isaac Dachen

Zambia’s ruling party, the UPND, has warned opposition politicians and critics against personal attacks on President Hakainde Hichilema as his meekness should not be mistaken for weakness.

Secretary-General of the UPND, Batuke Imenda, who gave the warning in a statement in Lusaka on Monday, urged political opponents to always engage in mature and issue-based discourse.

Zambia Monitor reports that Imenda’s warning, was directed at the leader of Zambia Must Prosper (ZMP) party, Kelvin Bwalya Fube, whose recent remarks Imenda described as “provocative” and a “feeble attempt to mislead citizens.”

“Provocative words uttered by Kelvin Bwalya against our party and President Hichilema are a clear demonstration of naivety,” Imenda said in the statement.

He further advised Bwalya to abandon personal attacks and focus on substantial political issues.

The UPND Secretary suggested that Bwalya’s attacks stemmed from a desire for relevance amid declining political fortunes, hinting at a possible alignment with former President Edgar Lungu.

“It appears KBF is hoping that Edgar Lungu might support his embattled political career by unjustly attacking President Hichilema,” he said.

Imenda defended the President’s record, highlighting that under Hichilema’s leadership, Zambia’s democratic space had expanded compared to the previous PF administration, which he accused of stifling freedoms.

He noted that while criticism was welcome, it should not devolve into baseless attacks, warning that opposition figures should not misinterpret Hichilema’s restraint as weakness.

Imenda also criticized Bwalya for overlooking the gains in transparency and justice since the change in government, claiming that past regimes were marked by resource mismanagement and corruption.

Metro

Following backlash, Nigerian govt withdraws treason charges against minors

Published

12 hours ago

November 5, 2024

Isaac Dachen

The Nigerian government has officially withdrawn the treason charges it entered against some minors who participated in the #EndBadGovernance protest that spread across the country from August 1 to the 10th.

The nation was thrown into shock on Friday when the Nigeria Police presented 76 protesters at the Federal High Court in Abuja on charges bordering on treason. Among the suspects were four minors who slumped before they could be arraigned before the court.

This caused serious uproar in the country with Nigerians condemning the government and calling for the unconditional release of the kids and the dismissal of the charges against them.

The decision to withdraw the charges against the underage accused came following a directive by President Bola Tinubu who ordered the immediate withdrawal of the charges and an in-depth investigation into what led to the arrest and detention of the minors.

Tinubu had also ordered the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Prince Lateef Fagbemi, (SAN) to officially take over the case file as well as review the cases following public outcry that came with the arraignment of the minors.

The charges were finally withdrawn on Tuesday at the Federal High Court in Abuja through an application for discontinuance filled by the Director of Public Prosecution of the Federation (DPPF), Mohammed Abubakar, on behalf of the AGF.

According to Abubakar, the discontinuance application was based on provisions of sections 174(1), (b) and (c) of the 1999 Constitution, as amended, and 108 of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act, ACJA, 2015.

The DPPF also applied for further proceedings to be conducted without the presence of the minors in the courtroom, in line with provisions of Section 266(b) of the ACJA, 2015, and Section 1 of the Childs’ Rights Act.

In response, human rights lawyer, Mr. Femi Fanala (SAN), who stood in for the accused as well as other defence lawyers in the matter, did not oppose the applications which promoted the judge, Justice Obiora Egwuatu, to strike out the charges, while the four affected minors were also delisted from the charge sheet.