South Africans are shaking their heads Monday on the news that four men trying to flee from police in Cape Town drove straight onto the grounds of Pollsmoor Prison – and to no one’s surprise, never left. The suspects were involved in a chase after the car was reported stolen…
In Cameroon, Anglophone activist Mancho Bibixy and six others were found guilty on charges of terrorism, secession and related crimes after appearing this week before a military court. They remain in custody in Yaoundé pending their sentencing on May 8. Bibixy was arrested after making a public speech from a…
In Cameroon, where Anglophone activists tried before a military court received heavy sentences this week, the case against Mancho Bibixy has been adjourned yet again until April 24. Bibixy was arrested after making a public speech from a coffin in November 2016, as the tensions heightened between the country’s English-speaking…
With unofficial results in, Egyptian authorities say President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi has secured the expected landslide victory in the country’s presidential election. Sisi has received more than 90 percent of votes cast, with turnout at more than 40 percent of the country’s 59 million registered voters, according to state television. His…
Six political opposition leaders in Tanzania will appear in court Thursday following their arrest earlier this week on charges of sedition. Freeman Mbowe, head of the CHADEMA party, and five others also were charged with participating in an illegal demonstration in Kinondoni in February. The resulting clashes led to the…
Egypt extended its voting times on Wednesday, the last of three days in the nationwide elections, after lines at the polls swelled following a last-minute announcement by the country’s National Election Authority that registered voters who failed to participate faced a fine. The directive found in an NEA guidelines publication…
Voting in Egypt’s presidential election begins on Monday, but it’s appeared for months unlikely that President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi will risk any loss. Interior Ministry officials said Sunday they’re taking the final steps to secure 11,000 polling stations, which open at 9 a.m. for the first of three days of voting….
Evan Mawarire, the activist pastor who led Zimbabwe’s #thisflag movement during the last years of former President Robert Mugabe’s tenure, revealed Friday that he is taking legal action against the national police for damages related to multiple wrongful arrests in 2016 and 2017. Beginning in April 2016, Mawarire posted videos…
Fourteen human rights organizations, including the global Human Rights Watch NGO, have called on Western governments to speak out against presidential elections in Egypt they describe as “farcical.” “The United States, European Union, and European states, which provide substantial financial assistance to the Egyptian government, should consistently integrate human rights…
Kenyan opposition leader Raila Odinga’s symbolic swearing-in ceremony in Nairobi is considered “a well- choreographed attempt to subvert or overthrow the legally constituted Government of the Republic of Kenya,” according to a statement released Wednesday. Interior Minister Fred Matiang’i said full investigations into Odinga and his Nasa “co-conspirators and facilitators” are…
As yet it’s still unclear exactly what happened to Egyptian politician Hisham Geneina on Saturday, but the country’s opposition leaders say it’s another attempt at intimidation by President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi as he pushes for a second term. Widely circulated images of the former auditor, who served a brief jail sentence last…
Laureen is the editor of Africa Times
Ethiopia on Monday said it was dropping charges against 528 political prisoners, the first such group since a decision announced earlier this month to release political prisoners. Among them is Merera Gudina, the Oromo scholar and longtime opposition leader. State-owned Ethiopian Broadcasting Corporation (EBC), FANA Broadcasting and other news outlets…
Authorities say two men have been arrested in Italy following the deaths of 26 Nigerian women during a migrant crossing on the Mediterranean Sea. Italy’s ANSA news agency said police in Salerno identified Mohamed Ali Al Bouzid of Egypt and Al Mabrouc Wisam Harar, a Libyan, and have charged them…
Rwanda has been arresting and threatening political opponents since President Paul Kagame was re-elected in August, in a repressive response detailed on Friday by the Human Rights Watch organization. “The Rwandan government’s crackdown shows that it is unwilling to tolerate criticism or accept a role for opposition parties, and it…
In Zimbabwe, reform movement leader and pastor Evan Mawarire has pleaded not guilty following a new arrest at the weekend and charges that he is trying to subvert the government of President Robert Mugabe. “I’m just about to finish preaching and I’m told the police are waiting for me outside,”…