Rights Activist
Egyptian TikTok influencer to appeal 10-year trafficking sentence
Egyptian TikTok influencer Haneen Hossam will appeal a 10-year prison sentence handed down by a Cairo court that found her guilty of human trafficking, her lawyer said on Monday. In the latest twist in a nearly year-long saga, the court also fined the 20-year-old Cairo University student 200 000 Egyptian pounds ($13 000) on Sunday for encouraging women to share footage on the video-sharing app in exchange for money. “We will demand restoration of the case proceedings because there are contradictions between the verdict and the merits on which the court’s decision is based,” said lawyer Hani Sameh. “We hope that she can get a reduced jail sentence or an acquittal,” he told the Thomson Reuters Foundation. Several women have been accused of “inciting debauchery” for challenging Egypt’s conser...
Omoyele Sowore: Let the struggle continue even if they take my life
Omoyele Sowore, human rights activist, has asked his supporters to carry on with “the struggle” even if he loses his life. Reacting to the incident at Unity Fountain in Abuja on Monday morning, Sowore simply identified the officer who shot him as one ACP Etine. “Just been shot by a police officer, ACP Atine at the Unity Fountain in Abuja. #RevolutionNow Let the struggle continue even if they take my life!” he tweeted. Inibehe Effiong, one of Sowore’s lawyers, had said that the officer fired a teargas cannister directly at the right thigh of the activist. “The criminal officer is said to be CSP Atine. I watched Sowore being shot live on Facebook.” “This is what Nigeria has been turned into under Buhari. They’ve declared war on the Civic Space. “The FCT Police Commissioner has fenced the Uni...
Report: US says ex-Egypt premier had diplomatic immunity from lawsuit
The Biden administration has said a lawsuit seeking to hold former Egyptian Prime Minister Hazem el-Beblawi accountable for alleged involvement in torture against an Egyptian-American activist should be thrown out because he held diplomatic immunity, the Washington Post reported on Monday. In a submission to the US District Court in Washington, DC, shared by the Post, lawyers for the US Justice Department said “El Beblawi held diplomatic status at the time when the suit was commenced” and the court should dismiss “claims falling with the scope of his immunity”. El-Beblawi had served as Egypt’s representative to the International Monetary Fund, but quit and left the US in late October, the Post reported. The department said in its court filing that it was not making any judgements on the me...
Senator Tinubu inaugurates Kano’s anti-graft commission office
The All Progressives Congress (APC) National Leader, Bola Tinubu, has lauded Governor Abdullahi Ganduje of Kano State for strengthening anti-corruption institutions. Tinubu gave the commendation on Sunday in Kano while inaugurating the Office of Kano State Public Complaints and Anti-Corruption Commission. The APC leader praised Ganduje for “his efforts in fighting corruption”. “This is a welcome development indeed and we salute the governor for this encouraging effort. “In ensuring Nigeria becomes a member of a committed international community that frees us from the burden of corruption this and similar edifices could play an important role in that. “To a lot of us looking forward to a prosperous, corruption-free Nigeria and Africa today is dedicated to that objective,” he pointed out. In...
OPC: We’ll deal with killer herdsmen
The Oodua People’s Congress (OPC) has vowed to get rid of killer herdsmen from the South West. It also offered to enforce the quit notice to herdsmen to vacate forest reserves by Ondo Governor Rotimi Akeredolu, which expires on Sunday. Deputy President to late OPC founder, Otunba Wasiu Afolabi, in a statement on Sunday, further said the arrest order on Yoruba rights activist Sunday Adeyemo popularly known as Sunday Igboho is “misguided and provocative.” The socio-cultural group said: “Although the millions of law-abiding Fulani men and women living in our midst have absolutely no cause for alarm, those Fulani criminals hiding under the cloak of being herdsmen to perpetrate evil against law-abiding citizens should know their time is up. Henceforth, it will be fire for fire. “We are fully pr...
Group lauds governments, Nigerians on fight against coronavirus
The Woman and Half Initiative (WAH), a group of successful professional women, has hailed the efforts of governments and Nigerians to contain the Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. Mrs Chile Udemgba, the WAH Promoter, made the commendation in a statement to newsmen in Lagos. She expressed joy that Nigeria was among the countries which recorded the lowest COVID-19 cases. “As the society gradually evolves from a crippling lockdown occasioned by the COVID-19 pandemic, we celebrate the effusive Nigerian spirit which has seen us all wrestle this pandemic down with our country recording some of the lowest incidences in the world,” she said. Udemgba noted that the lockdown caused many economies and businesses to collapse, thereby hindering progress. According to her, the group would celebrate...