Stands against the abuse of Human Right in all forms
Thursday, August 28, 2014
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Thursday, August 7, 2014
Uganda’s Museveni meets with Obama days after repeal of anti-gay law
BY JOE MORGAN
Uganda’s Yoweri Museveni has met with President Barack Obama days after the repeal of the anti-gay law.
The first sitting US president to back equal marriage and the First Lady posed for a picture with the man that agrees homosexuality is an ‘abomination’.
The White House was holding a dinner yesterday with heads of state from Uganda, Ethiopia, Kenya among others to discuss strengthening the US’ ties with Africa.
Just days before, the Constitutional Court in Uganda ruled the Anti-Homosexuality Act must be nullified due to parliamentary speaker Rebecca Kadaga acting ‘illegally’. At least one third of lawmakers are required in parliament before passing legislation.
Prior to the summit, several petitions were launched to call on the White House to disinvite the Ugandan president.
Milton Allimadi, a Ugandan-born human rights activist, said Obama should not be in the same room as a man who proudly led a five-hour parade celebrating the anti-gay law’s passage earlier this year.
And Melanie Nathan, a US activist who works with African LGBTI rights, said she has felt ‘betrayed’ by the meeting.
‘The hardest part for me is I truly love this President,’ she said.
‘I thought he was one of our greatest. I am so disappointed I can barely find the words to express my anger and sadness.
‘I feel as if my best friend just stabbed me in the back.’
She added: ‘Some LGBT community members are still in hiding – unable to work, struggling to survive – And you welcome him into OUR White House.
‘I am angry and as a lesbian American I feel betrayed! There is no justification for this whatsoever. You have lost my support!’"
Ethiopian Adoption Fraud Scheme Manager of Adoption Agency Pleads Guilty to -USDOJ:
A former foreign program director of International Adoption Guides Inc. (IAG), an adoption agency, pleaded guilty today to conspiring with others to defraud the United States by paying bribes to foreign officials and submitting fraudulent documents to the State Department for adoptions from Ethiopia.
Assistant Attorney General Leslie R. Caldwell of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division and U.S. Attorney William N. Nettles for the District of South Carolina made the announcement. The guilty plea was entered by U.S. District Court Judge Sol Blatt Jr. of the District of South Carolina.
Alisa Bivens, 42, admitted as part of her plea that she and her co-conspirators submitted fraudulent documents to the State Department to facilitate adoptions of Ethiopian children by U.S. parents from 2006 until 2009. In support of U.S. visa applications for the Ethiopian children, Bivens and others submitted false documentation, including contracts of adoption signed by orphanages that could not properly give the children up for adoption because, for example, the child in question was never cared for or never resided at the orphanage.
In entering her guilty plea, Bivens also admitted that she and others paid bribes to two Ethiopian officials so that those officials would help with the fraudulent adoptions. The first of these two foreign officials, an audiologist and teacher at a government school, accepted money and other valuables in exchange for providing non-public medical information and social history information for potential adoptees to the conspirators. The second foreign official, the head of a regional ministry for women’s and children’s affairs, received money and all-expenses-paid travel in exchange for approving IAG’s applications for intercountry adoptions and for ignoring IAG’s failure to maintain a properly licensed adoption facility. Sentencing for Bivens will be scheduled at a later date.
This ongoing investigation is being conducted by the Bureau of Diplomatic Security. The case is being prosecuted by Trial Attorney John W. Borchert of the Criminal Division’s Fraud Section and Assistant U.S. Attorney Jamie Lea Schoen for the District of South Carolina.
Assistant Attorney General Leslie R. Caldwell of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division and U.S. Attorney William N. Nettles for the District of South Carolina made the announcement. The guilty plea was entered by U.S. District Court Judge Sol Blatt Jr. of the District of South Carolina.
Alisa Bivens, 42, admitted as part of her plea that she and her co-conspirators submitted fraudulent documents to the State Department to facilitate adoptions of Ethiopian children by U.S. parents from 2006 until 2009. In support of U.S. visa applications for the Ethiopian children, Bivens and others submitted false documentation, including contracts of adoption signed by orphanages that could not properly give the children up for adoption because, for example, the child in question was never cared for or never resided at the orphanage.
In entering her guilty plea, Bivens also admitted that she and others paid bribes to two Ethiopian officials so that those officials would help with the fraudulent adoptions. The first of these two foreign officials, an audiologist and teacher at a government school, accepted money and other valuables in exchange for providing non-public medical information and social history information for potential adoptees to the conspirators. The second foreign official, the head of a regional ministry for women’s and children’s affairs, received money and all-expenses-paid travel in exchange for approving IAG’s applications for intercountry adoptions and for ignoring IAG’s failure to maintain a properly licensed adoption facility. Sentencing for Bivens will be scheduled at a later date.
This ongoing investigation is being conducted by the Bureau of Diplomatic Security. The case is being prosecuted by Trial Attorney John W. Borchert of the Criminal Division’s Fraud Section and Assistant U.S. Attorney Jamie Lea Schoen for the District of South Carolina.
Wednesday, August 6, 2014
Ethiopia: British activist Tsige facing death penalty will not be executed
The British government summoned Ethiopian diplomats to raise its concerns about the arrest of a British national being held in Ethiopia who has been sentenced to death over his involvement with an opposition political group.
“Mr Simmonds asked the chargé to urge his government to deliver on previous commitments to provide consular access without further delay, and to provide assurances that they do not intend to carry out the death penalty imposed in absentia,” a statement from the Foreign Office said.
Andargachew Tsige was sentenced to death in 2009 in abstention and another trial handed him life behind bars three years later. He was arrested in Yemen earlier this year and extradited to Ethiopia.
The Ethiopian government has been pressed to provide guarantees that a British national facing the death penalty will not be executed.
Political activist Andargachew Tsige has been detained in Ethiopia for six weeks following his removal from Yemen and denied consular access from British officials, the Foreign Office said.
This is a wonderful opportunity to give back as an Ethiopian diaspora in the west and be part of something transformational: Melaku Negussie, Ethio-American Doctors Group :”There is an emotional attachment to our country-Ethiopia and to Ethiopian diaspora, this is a wonderful opportunity to give back and be part of something transformational.”
Andargachew Tsige is secretary general of the banned Ginbot 7 movement, with reports stating he was sentenced to death in his absence in 2009 for plotting a coup – charges he and others denied.
Demeke Atnafu, charge d’affaires at the Ethiopian embassy in the UK, was summoned to the Foreign Office to meet Africa Minister Mark Simmonds.
In a statement, the Foreign Office said: “Mr Simmonds expressed deep concern that the Ethiopian authorities had not allowed consular access to Mr Andargachew Tsige, a British national who has now been detained as a terrorist in Ethiopia after being removed from Yemeni Sana’a International Airport.
Amnesty International says Ethiopian opposition leader Mr Tsige disappeared at Sana’a airport in Yemen while travelling between the United Arab Emirates and Eritrea in June.
They have asked the Ethiopian authorities to guarantee he is not tortured or ill-treated in prison.
Monday, August 4, 2014
Assurance urged for detained briton Adargachew Tsge | Mail Online
The Ethiopian government has been pressed to provide guarantees that a British national facing the death penalty will not be executed.
Political activist Andargachew Tsige has been detained in Ethiopia for six weeks following his removal from Yemen and denied consular access from British officials, the Foreign Office said.
He is secretary general of the banned Ginbot 7 movement, with reports stating he was sentenced to death in his absence in 2009 for plotting a coup - charges he and others denied.
Demeke Atnafu, charge d'affaires at the Ethiopian embassy in the UK, was summoned to the Foreign Office to meet Africa Minister Mark Simmonds.
In a statement, the Foreign Office said: "Mr Simmonds expressed deep concern that the Ethiopian authorities had not allowed consular access to Mr Andargachew Tsige, a British national who has now been detained in Ethiopia for six weeks after being removed from Yemen.
"Mr Simmonds asked the charge to urge his government to deliver on previous commitments to provide consular access without further delay and to provide assurances that they do not intend to carry out the death penalty imposed in absentia."
Amnesty International says Ethiopian opposition leader Mr Tsige disappeared at Sana'a airport in Yemen while travelling between the United Arab Emirates and Eritrea in June.
They have asked the Ethiopian authorities to guarantee he is not tortured or ill-treated.
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/wires/pa/article-2715889/ASSURANCE-URGED-FOR-DETAINED-BRITON.html#ixzz39RwBiDa1
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Saturday, August 2, 2014
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