After 34 years, Sankara murder trial begins in Burkina Faso
Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso Reuters The trial of 14 people accused of plotting the assassination of Burkina Faso’s former President Thomas Sankara started on Monday, 34 years after he was gunned down in one of the most infamous killings in modern African history. Sankara – a charismatic Marxist revolutionary widely known as “Africa’s Che Guevara” – […]
Sarah Everard case pushes Brits to learn how to stop street abuse
London, UKThomson Reuters Foundation The murder of Sarah Everard has led to a spike in demand for training on how to help if you see someone being harassed on the street, course providers in Britain said, as her killer was sentenced to spend the rest of his life in prison. Everard’s abduction from a residential street […]
Egypt executes monk for murder of bishop at monastery
Cairo, EgyptReuters Authorities carried out the death penalty on an Egyptian monk who killed the abbot of his monastery in 2018, a lawyer and the monk’s brother told Reuters on Sunday. Wael Saad and Ramon Rasmi Mansour, known by their monastic names Isaiah al-Makari and Faltaous al-Makari, were convicted of the killing of Bishop Epiphanius, […]
Calls for women’s shelters as Kenya reports COVID-19 surge in violence
Nairobi, KenyaThomson Reuters Foundation A sharp rise in gender-based violence in Kenya during the COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted an urgent need for more shelters to help victims and awareness campaigns, women’s rights groups said on Friday. Cases of violence targeting women and girls – including rape, child marriage and murder – rose 36 per cent […]
Juan Gerardi: HBO documentary on slain Guatemalan bishop has lessons for today’s fight for justice
CLAIRE GIANGRAVÉ, of Religion News Service, reports on a new documentary highlighting the legacy of murdered Guatemalan Catholic Bishop Juan Gerardi…
China is harvesting organs from Falun Gong members, finds expert panel
LondonThomson Reuters Foundation China is murdering members of the Falun Gong spiritual group and harvesting their organs for transplant, a panel of lawyers and experts on Monday as they invited further investigations into a potential genocide. Members said they had heard clear evidence forced organ harvesting had taken place over at least 20 years in […]
Can panic alarms save women in Mexico City?
Thomson Reuters Foundation Victims of domestic abuse in Mexico City will be given panic alarms as part of government efforts to combat growing rates of violence against women in a country where on average more than seven women are killed by men every day. Authorities aim to hand out key rings with a global positioning […]
Latin American women urged to act on violence to cut murder rate
Thomson Reuters Foundation Women in Latin America must stop accepting violence as a normal part of life, government leaders and campaigners said last week as five countries from the region joined forces to end its high murder and assault rates of women. Studies show Latin America is home to 14 of the 25 countries with […]
EGYPT: COPTIC ABBOT’S MURDER POINTS TO STRAINS OVER ECUMENISM
JACOB WIRTSCHAFTER and MINA NADER, writing for Religion News Service, report…
Murder of man with albinism in Malawi sparks call for death penalty
Thomson Reuters Foundation The latest murder of a man with albinism in Malawi – the 22nd in four years – has sparked calls for their killers to be executed to deter a wave of attacks in the poor southern African nation. The dismembered corpse of 22-year-old McDonald Masambuka was found buried in southern Malawi several […]