Author: Publisher

{The trial in Uganda of a British man arrested after images of him having gay sex were published has been postponed until December.}

Bernard Randall faces up to two years in prison if convicted of trafficking in obscene publications. The charge against Randall resulted from the theft of his laptop computer. Images on the laptop were later published in a tabloid newspaper.

Homosexuality is illegal under Ugandan laws and gay leaders say their community is often persecuted.

On Monday Randall’s lawyer, Annette Bada, told a Ugandan court that she needed access to prosecution evidence in order to mount a defense. A judge granted the request and set a new court date of Dec. 4.

Randall told journalists that he is innocent but is worried about the court proceedings

ABCNews

{Kenya is optimistic that the International Criminal Court state parties meeting in The Hague from Tuesday will pass an amendment to shield sitting presidents from prosecution at the court.}

Attorney General Githu Muigai and Foreign Affairs Secretary Amina Mohamed said Monday that the government was hoping that the assembly of state parties will adopt the resolution, which is being pushed by the African Union (AU).

Thirty-four African countries, which have signed the Rome Statute, have resolved to push for immunity from prosecution by ICC for serving heads of state and government.

However, a group of African NGOs in New York, USA, yesterday asked the ICC member states to reject the amendments proposed by the AU.

“Immunity for government leaders before the ICC is contrary to the basic principle that no one should be above the law,” said Mr Georges Kapiamba, president of the Congolese Association for Access to Justice.

“We should not deny justice to the victims and their families because their tormentors hold high political positions.”

But speaking in Nairobi, Prof Muigai said that other nations, which are also state parties to the Rome Statute — which created the ICC — have also expressed support for the amendment.

“There is no likelihood that the amendment will not go through,” he told journalists on the sidelines of a seminar for judges in Nairobi.

According to him, Britain and France are among the countries that have already expressed their support for the amendments.

“There are many amendments that will be on the table, including reviewing of the cases that have been handled by the court and those that are currently before it,” he said.

Prof Muigai, who is set to join the Kenyan team for the talks at The Hague, also said that the amendments have been drafted over a period of some months through meetings of contact groups, which have been working to review the rules of the ICC to make the court more flexible.
He, however, denied that a rejection of the amendment would affect the relationship between Kenya and the ICC.

Daily Nation

{Claims that Kenya, Uganda and Rwanda have isolated Tanzania and Burundi on matters of the East African Community were yesterday brought before the East African Court of Justice (EACJ).}

The matter has been taken by three East African nationals, who filed a petition against the actions of the three EAC partner states of holding ‘illegal’ regional trading bloc meetings in absence of Tanzania and Burundi.

The nationals include Ally Msangi, David Mataka and John Adam Bwenda, who lodged the petition through senior advocate, Jimmy Obed of the Dar es Salaam-based Jimmy Obed Advocates Company.

The three citizens are asking the regional court to issue a ‘stop-order’ on matters that were agreed among Uganda, Kenya and Rwanda in their meetings.
In their petition they said the agreements by the three states were against the protocol governing the formation of EAC.

In another note, the petitioners asked EACJ to warn the three partner states against jeopardizing the trading bloc.

One of the petitioners, Jimmy Obeid said the petition was meant to press the court to issue a statement in an effort to ensure the EAC protocol was respected by all partner states.

Obeid pointed fingers at Rwanda, Uganda and Kenya for breaching the EAC Protocol by holding a meeting between June 24 and 25, this year in Entebbe, Uganda.
Other meetings were held on August 28, this year in Mombasa, Kenya and another one in Kigali, Rwanda.

“Those meetings were against the EAC protocol, as the three states were discussing some of the issues which are within the EAC framework,” the petitioner said, citing some of the sections which have been violated as 71(F), 71(D) and article 12; 3 (3)c, article 6 (a), (b), (d) and (f) and article 8 (1) c and 8 (3)c.

“As citizens of East Africa we, have the right to ask the court to work on our petitions and issue an order that will inhibit implementation of what agreed in those ‘illegal’ meetings by those three states.”

EAC Secretary General, Attorneys General of Kenya, Uganda and Rwanda are required to respond to the petitions.

IPPMedia

{Since moving to Kenya a decade ago accomplished Sydney ad-man Patrick Richer had met tragedy once before.}

Seven years ago he was one of four passengers in a safari vehicle when it was hit head-on by a truck in December 2006, killing four people including two Australians. Mr Richer escaped with a fractured spine.

His love for Kenya, and his Kenyan wife Lesli, kept him in Africa. ”My wife inspired me to come back to Kenya, to start afresh,” he said in a video filmed by his employer, international advertising agency, Tbwa Flame Tree Advertising.

But on Sunday morning the 39-year-old Australian was shot dead in Kenya by a gang of up to 10 men, including some who were wearing police uniforms when they stormed into his home.

Mr Richer was shot twice in the chest at close range in his house in the upmarket Runda estate in Nairobi in the early hours of Sunday.

Advertising industry personnel told Fairfax Media that jobs in Africa pay more handsomely than those in Sydney but come with obvious risks.

Nairobi police commander Benson Kibue told Kenyan newspaper The Daily Nation that at least 10 attackers, including six who were dressed in administration police uniform, raided Mr Richer’s home just before 2am on Sunday.

The gunmen are believed to have cut through the rear fence and tied up a number of guards before raiding the house and shooting Mr Richer, the Kenyan newspaper The Standard reported .

Mr Richer was taken to Aga Khan Hospital, but was pronounced dead. Mrs Richer, also was home at the time of the robbery but was not injured.

The thieves escaped with a television, phones and two laptops, according to The Daily Nation.

Mr Kibue said no one had been arrested over the robbery, which occurred in one of the most affluent neighbourhoods in Nairobi and that police were trying to establish whether the suspects in police uniform were in fact officers.

Tbwa Flame Tree Advertising’s Tim Smyth, told local media that Mr Richer was a ”wonderful person” who had been working for the company for about five years.

”He has travelled across Africa to represent lots of companies and lots of brands and has worked with many, many young Kenyans to help them grow their skills and their passion for advertising and creativity,” Mr Smyth said.

”He’s a great ambassador for our industry. He’s certainly going to be sorely missed by many of the young Kenyans that he helped over the past almost decade working in Kenya and across Africa.

”We were about to negotiate some new long-term deals for him to move ahead and continue to work and help us grow our business and industry here. It’s craziness.”

The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade said the Australian High Commission in Nairobi was liaising with local authorities on the incident which led to his death.

smh.com.au