3 Americans implicated in Congo coup attempt go on trial

3 Americans implicated in Congo coup attempt go on trial
Around 50 people went on trial on Friday in Congo over what the army called an attempted coup. (AP)
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Updated 07 June 2024
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3 Americans implicated in Congo coup attempt go on trial

3 Americans implicated in Congo coup attempt go on trial
  • The proceedings before the open-air military court were broadcast live on the local television channel

KINSHASA: Three Americans accused of being involved in last month’s coup attempt in Congo appeared in a military court in the country’s capital, Kinshasa, on Friday, along with dozens of other defendants who were lined up on plastic chairs before the judge on the first day of the hearing.
The proceedings before the open-air military court were broadcast live on the local television channel.
Six people were killed during the botched coup attempt led by the little-known opposition figure Christian Malanga last month that targeted the presidential palace and a close ally of President Felix Tshisekedi.
Malanga was shot and killed soon after live-streaming the attack for resisting arrest, the Congolese army said.
The defendants face a number of charges, many punishable by death, including terrorism, murder and criminal association.
The court said there were 53 names on the list, but the names of Malanga and one other person were removed after death certificates were produced.
Alongside Malanga’s 21-year-old son Marcel Malanga — who is a US citizen — two other Americans are on trial for their alleged role in the attack. All three requested an interpreter to translate the proceedings from French to English.
Malanga’s son was the first to be questioned by the judge, who asked him to confirm his name and other personal details.
The military official chosen to translate for him was apparently unable to understand English well.
Eventually, a journalist was selected from the media to replace him, but he too had trouble translating numbers and the details of the proceedings.
“He’s not interpreting right. We need a different interpreter who understands English, please,” Marcel Malanga told the judge after the journalist incorrectly translated his zip code.
But no other translator emerged and the defendants had to make do with the journalist, who worked for the national radio.
Malanga appeared frustrated and defiant as the interview stumbled ahead.
Tyler Thompson Jr., 21, flew to Africa from Utah with the younger Malanga for what his family believed was a vacation, with all expenses paid by the elder Malanga.
The young men had played high school football together in Salt Lake City suburbs.
Other teammates accused Marcel of offering up to $100,000 to join him on a “security job” in Congo.
Thompson appeared before the court with a shaved head and sores on his skin, looking nervous and lost as he confirmed his name and other personal details to the judge.
His stepmother, Miranda Thompson, said that the family found out about the hearing too late to arrange travel to Congo but hoped to be present for future court dates. Before this week, the family had no proof he was still alive.
“We’re thrilled with the confirmation,” she said.
Miranda Thompson had worried that her stepson might not even know that his family knew he’d been arrested. On Monday, the US Embassy in Congo said it had yet to gain access to the American prisoners to provide consular services before the trial.
The embassy did not respond to a request for comment on Friday.
Thompson’s family maintains he had no knowledge of the elder Malanga’s intentions, no plans for political activism and did not even plan to enter Congo.
He and the Malangas were meant to travel only to South Africa and Eswatini, Thompson’s stepmother said.
Marcel Malanga’s mother, Brittney Sawyer, has said that her son is innocent and had simply followed his father. Sawyer and the Thompsons are independently crowdfunding for legal expenses and travel funds to be present for the rest of the trial.
Both families say they remain worried about their sons’ health — Malanga has a liver disease, and Thompson contracted malaria earlier in the trip.
“As a mother, my heart is crying each day,” Sawyer wrote on her crowdfunding page.
“My main goal each day is to bring him home.”
Benjamin Reuben Zalman-Polun, 36, was the third American on trial.
He was seen seated in the back row, and was the last to be interviewed.
He told the court he was not married and had three children.
Zalman-Polun, who in 2015 pleaded guilty to trafficking marijuana, is reported to have known Christian Malanga through a gold mining company that was set up in Mozambique in 2022, according to an official journal published by Mozambique’s government, and a report by Africa Intelligence newsletter.
A prominent Belgian-Congolese researcher on political and security issues, Jean-Jacques Wondo, also appeared at the court on Friday.
It was unclear what evidence was held against him. Human Rights Watch said it had consulted with Wondo for years on research, and his only link to Malanga appears to be an old photo.
“Wondo and others detained should be credibly charged with a criminal offense or immediately released. An arrest based only on a 2016 photo is just not credible,” Human Rights Watch said in statement on Friday.


Pakistan seals off capital, blocks cellphones ahead of protest by Imran Khan’s party

Pakistan seals off capital, blocks cellphones ahead of protest by Imran Khan’s party
Updated 10 sec ago
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Pakistan seals off capital, blocks cellphones ahead of protest by Imran Khan’s party

Pakistan seals off capital, blocks cellphones ahead of protest by Imran Khan’s party
  • It would be the latest in a series of protest rallies since last month to press for Khan’s release
  • Islamabad police warn they would take action against anyone attempting to disturb the peace in the capital
ISLAMABAD: Authorities in Pakistan sealed off the capital, Islamabad, and blocked cellphone services on Friday to prevent an anti-government rally by supporters of jailed former Prime Minister Imran Khan, officials said.
It would be the latest in a series of protest rallies since last month to press for Khan’s release and agitate against the ruling coalition government, which the party calls illegitimate, saying it was formed after a fraudulent election.
Shipping containers have been placed to block Islamabad’s entry and exit points, guarded by large numbers of police and paramilitary troops, the officials said, while police banned any gathering in the capital.
“If someone plans to storm Islamabad, we wouldn’t let that happen,” Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi told a news conference late on Thursday.
He urged Khan’s party to shift the rally to later dates, to avoid disrupting Islamabad’s preparations to host a meeting of the Shanghai Co-operation Organization (SCO) on Oct. 15 and Oct. 16.
Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim is visiting, to be followed by a high-profile Saudi delegation and Chinese Premier Li Qiang ahead of the conference, Naqvi said, adding, “We can’t allow any chaos.”
Any agitation in the capital would not send a good signal to the world ahead of the conference, Naqvi said.
Disregarding the appeal, Khan asked his supporters to gather outside parliament regardless of obstacles.
“I want you all to reach D-Chowk today for a peaceful protest rally,” he posted on X on Friday, referring to a spot outside parliament. “This war has entered a decisive phase.”
Even though Khan has been in jail since Aug 2023, candidates backed by him won the most seats in February’s general election, though their numbers were insufficient to form a government.
His opponents, led by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, formed a coalition government instead.
In a statement on Friday, Islamabad police warned they would take action against anyone attempting to disturb the peace in the capital, adding that any gathering had been banned.
Schools were shut and cellphone services suspended in Islamabad and the adjacent garrison city of Rawalpindi.
A telecoms official said cellphone services were blocked on directions from the interior ministry. A ministry spokesman did not respond to a request for a comment.

WHO approves first mpox diagnostic test

WHO approves first mpox diagnostic test
Updated 7 min 27 sec ago
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WHO approves first mpox diagnostic test

WHO approves first mpox diagnostic test
  • More than 800 people have died across Africa from mpox, where the disease has been officially detected in 16 countries, according to the African Union’s disease control center

GENEVA: The UN health agency said on Friday that it had approved the use of the first diagnostic test for mpox, a key tool in countries battling outbreaks.
More than 800 people have died across Africa from mpox, where the disease has been officially detected in 16 countries, according to the African Union’s disease control center.
“The approval for emergency use” of the test “will be pivotal in expanding diagnostic capacity in countries facing mpox outbreaks, where the need for quick and accurate testing has risen sharply,” the World Health Organization said in a statement.
The test, called the Alinity m MPXV assay and manufactured by Abbott Molecular Inc., enables the detection of the mpox virus from swabs taken from human lesions.
“By detecting DNA from pustular or vesicular rash samples, laboratory and health workers can confirm suspected mpox cases efficiently and effectively,” the WHO said.
“Limited testing capacity and delays in confirming mpox cases persist in Africa, contributing to the continued spread of the virus,” it said.
The approval of the test “represents a significant milestone in expanding testing availability in affected countries,” the statement quoted Yukiko Nakatani, an assistant director-general of WHO, as saying.
“Increasing access to quality-assured medical products is central to our efforts in assisting countries to contain the spread of the virus and protect their people, especially in underserved regions,” Nakatani said.
Mpox, previously known as monkeypox, is caused by a virus transmitted to humans by infected animals but can also be passed from human to human through close physical contact.
It causes fever, muscular aches and large boil-like skin lesions, and can be deadly.


Philippines detains more than 250 in scam hub raid

Philippines detains more than 250 in scam hub raid
Updated 40 min 43 sec ago
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Philippines detains more than 250 in scam hub raid

Philippines detains more than 250 in scam hub raid
  • International concern has been growing over similar scam farms in Asia, often staffed by victims of trafficking who were tricked or coerced into promoting bogus crypto investments and other cons

MANILA: Philippine authorities have detained more than 250 people, most of them Chinese, in a raid on a suspected online scam farm in Manila, law enforcement officials said Friday.
Police and other authorities raided the office building late Thursday to find staff with hundreds of phones, computers, and pre-registered international and local SIM cards, the Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Commission said.
“These are red flags of love scamming that victimizes foreign nationals,” the commission said in a statement, referring to schemes in which scammers pretend to have romantic feelings for their victims in order to earn their trust and eventually steal their money.
International concern has been growing over similar scam farms in Asia, often staffed by victims of trafficking who were tricked or coerced into promoting bogus crypto investments and other cons.
In July, Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos outlawed all forms of offshore gaming operators, including Internet gaming license holders, after the gambling industry was found to be linked to financial scams, kidnapping, prostitution, human trafficking, torture and murder.
Thousands of foreign workers at the outlawed firms were given two months to leave the Philippines.
In the Manila raid on Thursday, 190 Chinese, two Taiwanese and 62 Filipinos were detained at the offices of a company called 3D Analyzer Information Technologies Inc.
The company used to have an Internet gaming license but subsequently told regulators it had “ceased operations,” Gilberto Cruz, the executive director of the anti-crime commission, told AFP.
“We’re looking for their passports or working visas, but they couldn’t show us anything,” Cruz added.
The commission will liaise with the Beijing and Taipei missions to help identify and arrange the deportation of the foreigners, the official said.
Meanwhile, Filipinos found to be involved in scamming activities will be charged in court, he added.
Cruz said the commission would also apply to the courts for warrants to search computers found inside the office.


Malaysia’s Anwar to visit Bangladesh to discuss trade, migrant workers with interim leader Yunus

Malaysia’s Anwar to visit Bangladesh to discuss trade, migrant workers with interim leader Yunus
Updated 04 October 2024
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Malaysia’s Anwar to visit Bangladesh to discuss trade, migrant workers with interim leader Yunus

Malaysia’s Anwar to visit Bangladesh to discuss trade, migrant workers with interim leader Yunus
  • It is the first visit by a foreign leader to Bangladesh since Yunus took over on Aug. 8 after former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina fled to India

DHAKA: Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim will visit Bangladesh on Friday to meet with interim leader Muhammad Yunus, who took over in August after the former prime minister fled during a mass uprising.
Anwar’s hourslong visit will focus on trade and investment, migrant workers and the Rohingya refugee crisis, officials and media reports said.
It is the first visit by a foreign leader to Bangladesh since Yunus took over on Aug. 8 after former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina fled to India . It is also the first state visit by a Malaysian leader to Bangladesh in 11 years.
Anwar, who is arriving from Pakistan, is leading a 58-member delegation.
Next year, Malaysia will chair the Association for Southeast Asian Nations, and Bangladesh is eager to increase its trade with that region.
Bangladesh is also pursuing a policy of increasingly involving ASEAN in resolving the Rohingya refugee crisis. More than 1 million Rohingya refugees from Myanmar live in camps in Bangladesh.
Bangladesh was Malaysia’s second-largest trading partner in South Asia in 2023, with total trade reaching $2.78 billion, according to official figures.
Malaysia is also one of the leading destinations for Bangladeshi migrant workers. Hundreds of thousands of Bangladeshi workers are employed as low-skilled workers in Malaysia’s construction, manufacturing, plantation and services sectors. But the recruiting process is often corrupt, and allegations of rights violations by Malaysian employers and Bangladeshi recruiting agencies are rampant.
More than 6,000 Bangladeshi students study at Malaysian higher education institutions, according to 2023 figures.


India asks top court not to toughen marital rape penalties

India asks top court not to toughen marital rape penalties
Updated 04 October 2024
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India asks top court not to toughen marital rape penalties

India asks top court not to toughen marital rape penalties
  • Penal code introduced during British colonial rule of India explicitly states that ‘sexual acts by a man with his own wife... is not rape’
  • India’s current penal code mandates a minimum 10-year sentence for those convicted of rape

MUMBAI: India’s government has asked the country’s top court not to toughen criminal penalties against marital rape during an ongoing case brought by campaigners seeking to outlaw it.
The penal code introduced in the 19th century during British colonial rule of India explicitly states that “sexual acts by a man with his own wife... is not rape.”
Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government enacted an overhauled code in July which retains that clause, despite the decade-long court challenge by activists seeking to make marital rape illegal.
India’s interior ministry filed an affidavit to the Supreme Court on Thursday stating that while marital rape should result in “penal consequences,” the legal system should treat it more leniently than rape committed outside of marriage.
“A husband certainly does not have any fundamental right to violate the consent of his wife,” the affidavit said, according to The Indian Express newspaper.
“However, attracting the crime in the nature of ‘rape’ as recognized in India to the institution of marriage can be arguably considered to be excessively harsh.”
India’s current penal code mandates a minimum 10-year sentence for those convicted of rape.
The government’s statement said that marital rape was adequately addressed in existing laws, including a 2005 law protecting women from domestic violence.
That law recognizes sexual abuse as a form of domestic violence but does not prescribe any criminal penalties to perpetrators.
Another section of the penal code punishes broadly defined acts of “cruelty” by a husband against their wife with prison terms of up to three years.
Six percent of Indian married women aged 18-49 have reported spousal sexual violence, according to the government’s latest National Family Health Survey conducted from 2019 to 2021.
In the world’s most populous country, that implies more than 10 million women have been victims of sexual violence at the hands of their husbands.
Nearly 18 percent of married women also feel they cannot say no if their husbands want sex, according to the survey.
Divorce remains taboo across much of India with only one in every 100 marriages ending in dissolution, often owing to family and social pressure to sustain unhappy marriages.
Chronic backlogs in India’s criminal justice system mean some cases take decades to reach a resolution, and the case pushing for the criminalization of marital rape has made painfully slow progress.
It was referred to the Supreme Court after a two-judge bench in the Delhi High Court issued a split verdict in May 2022.
One judge in that case ruled that while “one may disapprove” of a husband forcibly having sex with his wife, that “cannot be equated with the act of ravishing by a stranger.”