Interpol, the international organisation for police cooperation, has rejected a request from Egypt to issue one of its red notices against Ahmed Mansour, an Al Jazeera journalist.
An Interpol red notice is one of the closest instruments to an international arrest warrant. The network says the rejection of the request by Interpol is another clear indication of how the targeted campaign by Egypt against Al Jazeera is failing in the eyes of global opinion.
Mansour was convicted earlier this month in absentia by an Egyptian court and given a 15-year jail term for carrying out alleged torture during the January 25th revolution in 2011. Mansour rejected the charges as absurd, while Al Jazeera dismissed the accusation as a flimsy attempt at character assassination against of one of its leading journalists.
In an email to Al Jazeera’s lawyers, Interpol confirmed receiving a request from Egypt’s National Central Bureau about Mansour, but said that the red notice request “did not meet Interpol’s rules.”
Al Jazeera spokesperson Osama Saeed said: “This is further evidence of how Egypt’s legal actions against Al Jazeera are perceived as part of a political campaign against the network. This campaign is plainly not working and we will not be intimidated – journalists and citizens across the world are horrified by these breaches of basic press freedom. After the unjust imprisonment of three of our journalists last year who remain in Egyptian prison, and this unwarranted pursuit of one of the Arab world’s most prominent journalists, the Egyptian authorities should stop undermining freedom of speech, one of the pillars of the civilized world.”
The award-winning network recently won an Emmy and has been the benefactor of multiple journalistic awards. Al Jazeera said that it remained committed to its mission of putting the human being at the centre of its news agenda and giving a voice to the voiceless in the face of continuing harassment and imprisonment of its journalists by the Egyptian authorities.
The network also reiterated its call for the release of the three Al Jazeera English journalists – Baher Mohammed, Mohammed Fahmy and Peter Greste – who have been in jail since 29 December 2013 as part of a separate case.
At least, 10 Nigerians studying in various tertiary institutions abroad have been killed this year in questionable circumstances, according to the International Police, Interpol, which described the killings as worrisome developments.
The Interpol Commissioner of Police in Nigeria, CP, Muhammed Aduba, who stated during an interview with our Correspondent yesterday said the latest addition the number of Nigerian students killed in the last six months in the universities abroad is Naizi Evah, a third year Computer Systems Engineering student of Vaal University of Technology, South Africa, who was found dead on Saturday May 2014 in her hostel room.
According to the Interpol boss in Nigeria, it was her friends who are trying to get the media involved in the case, whereas, the South African Police is doing everything possible to bury the case.
One of her friends who reached out to the Interpol, said prior to her death, Naizi had been in an abusive relationship with a Zimbabwean student, who also studies in same school with her, studying same course. The unidentified man was arrested by police in connection with Naizi’s death but was bailed two days after police said they could not find any substantial evidence linking him to her death.
Her friends said the boyfriend had been emotionally and physically abusive towards Naizi, beat her severally and even threatened to kill. When Naizi got tired of the abuse and broke things off with the man and told close friends she was done with him but he kept on trying to get her back.
Her friends believe she was murdered but do not know by who and want the Nigerian authorities to get involved as they don’t believe they will get justice for Naizi with South African police. Naizi was from Edo State and was only 20 years old.
In Dubai, Toba Falode, 19-year-old son of a popular sports caster, Aisha Falode, a student of SAE Institute, Dubai, died in mysterious circumstances. The ace broadcaster is still asking for Justice.
The INTERPOL boss said, “my department has been petitioned over the matter and that detectives has been detailed on the case.”
Inspector General of Police (IGP) Muhammed Abubakar, in a telephone chat with our Correspondent, noted that the trend was becoming worrisome and but that government was not silent about the development.
“This is a very worrisome development and government is not at peace with it. I can assure you that all this cases are been pursue vigorously and soon, justice shall be done. I have provided the necessary logistics to the Interpol department to facilitate their work and i am sure they would deliver.”
The Police boss said, Interpol was still on the trial of the killers of four Nigerian students and a school pupil in that country in Ghana alone. This is even as the leaders of the Academic Staff Union of Universities and National Association of Nigerian Students have called on President Goodluck Jonathan to tackle the issue of student safety in Ghana, with a view to preventing the breakdown of bilateral relations between the two countries.
“There are as many as 75,000 Nigerians in tertiary institutions in neighbouring Ghana, which is known for providing friendly working and living conditions for foreign students.”
He gave the breakdown of Nigerian students killed abroad as follows: In November, barely 26 days after Ogukwe’s death, two Nigerian students, Eddy and Charles of KNUS Federal University Accra, lost their lives, during an excursion with their school, they claimed they got drowned.
“Only two weeks ago, Mr. Godwin Ayogu, a 300 level Social Science student of University of Cape Coast Central Region was brutally killed on February 20th, and his lifeless body was found on campus,” Dabiri-Erewa said.
Explaining further, he said Malaysia police killed one Tunde Adelabu from Ekiti State, a student of Lagenda University, Nilai, Malaysia, adding that more than 80 Nigerian students were currently in danger in Malaysia, according to reports, with no intervention whatsoever from the nation’s embassy in Malaysia.
The Nigerian Interpol chief said: “Also, a group of unknown Russians last two weeks stabbed a female Nigerian, Forester Samson, to death in Russia. “In Dubai, Toba Falode, 19-year-old son of a popular sports caster, Aisha Falode, a student of SAE Institute, Dubai, died in mysterious circumstances. ”In South Africa, the humiliating video of a Nigerian man stripped and beaten publicly by South African police has made news all over the world.“
Last week five students at the University of Cape Coast in Ghana were arrested after the gruesome murder of Nigerian social science student Godwin Ayogu, 19. He was apparently killed after trying to recover money he had lent to a fellow student.
His death followed the drowning of two Nigerian students from Knutsford University College in Accra while on an outing with university officials, and the mysterious death in October last year of 15-year-old Nigerian Austin Ogukwe, a student at Ideal College in Tema.
Nigeria’s human rights community has also lent its voice to those worried about student safety in other countries. “The sanctity of life cannot be compromised under any guise. The rights of foreigners must be adequately protected,” said Sylvester Odion-Akhaine, executive director of the Centre for Constitutionalism and Demilitarisation.
He said the issue not only posed the question of how safe Nigerian students were on the Gold Coast and in other countries, but also how interested university managements were in the well-being of foreign students, most of whom were teenagers.
The right activist added, “last month another Nigerian student, Adelabu Tunde, was shot dead by Malaysian police. He was killed while walking home from his studies at Legenda University.”(The Union)
The Interpol Commissioner of Police in Nigeria, CP, Muhammed Aduba, who stated during an interview with our Correspondent yesterday said the latest addition the number of Nigerian students killed in the last six months in the universities abroad is Naizi Evah, a third year Computer Systems Engineering student of Vaal University of Technology, South Africa, who was found dead on Saturday May 2014 in her hostel room.