Displaying items by tag: justice

Praise God for a successful rescue operation of 360 children, women and men freed from a brick kiln. They had been made to work under debt bondage for the last six months and faced extreme violence when they asked to leave during the COVID-19 pandemic. IJM and its partner supported local officials in the operation to get them finally to safety. This is the third time in five years that authorities have rescued people from this same brick kiln, but in the past the owner has always been released on bail.

Interpol has issued a red notice to Anne Sacoolas, the wife of a US diplomat, charged with killing Harry Dunn outside a US military base. She is now ‘wanted internationally’, charged with causing death by dangerous driving after her car knocked Harry off his motorbike last year. It is alleged that she was driving on the wrong side of the road. She claimed diplomatic immunity and fled to America. A Home Office extradition request was rejected by the US secretary of state, a move described by Downing Street as a ‘denial of justice’. In an escalation of the British stance, Interpol requested police forces worldwide to locate and provisionally arrest her if she crossed their borders. Pray for Mrs Sacoolas to decide to return to the UK and face the charges.

A new video has emerged on social media of a car being driven on the wrong side of the road outside RAF Croughton, near where 19-year-old Harry Dunn died when a car driving on the wrong side of the road hit him. The suspected driver left the UK under diplomatic immunity. US secretary of state Mike Pompeo rejected the UK's request for the driver’s extradition. A joint statement released by the police and the base said that additional provisions are to be introduced, and both parties are doing all that they can to prevent any future harm on the roads in and around the site. Meanwhile Harry Dunn’s family said that the video is evidence that a further tragedy is inevitable. They believe that the police and the US air force are ‘failing to acknowledge that there is a problem’.

Four UN human experts on human rights, freedom of religion, minority issues and the right to health have issued a joint statement, urging Iran to ensure ‘a fair and transparent final hearing’ at the court for three Iranian Christians sentenced for ‘conducting evangelism’ and ‘illegal house church activities,’ among other charges. The experts have expressed concern over last year's sentencing of Pastor Tamraz, an Assyrian Pentecostal leader, and of Amin Afshar Naderi and Hadi Asgari, house-church Christians. They were given between 10 and 15 year prison sentences. In November the former Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams, called on Christian leaders to intervene for the release of Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, who has been held in an Iranian prison since 2016 (see). The Revolutionary Court was due to hold a hearing on 9 February; the outcome is not yet known.

Lawyers representing victims of the convicted child sex offender Jeffrey Epstein have signalled they are willing to serve a subpoena on Prince Andrew to ensure he cooperates with their investigations. Meanwhile, he announced he was standing down from public duties and was willing to help ‘any appropriate law enforcement agency’ with their investigations after what he accepted was his ‘ill-judged association’ with Epstein. Lisa Bloom, a lawyer representing five of the victims, said that Prince Andrew was simply not credible in his recent BBC interview. ‘He and his staff must cooperate with all investigations, show up for civil depositions and trials, and produce all documents about his contact with Epstein. We are just getting started.’ See also

IJM wants God to bring justice and closure in the case of its staff lawyer Willie Kimani, client Josephat Mwenda, and trusted taxi driver Joseph Muiruri, who were kidnapped and murdered in 2016. Their bodies were dumped in gun bags in a river. Four police officers and one police informant were charged with their murders, and the informant confessed. 38 witnesses have testified over three years, but only eight remain. The court will sit soon, and the judge will decide whether to admit as evidence a video of a crime scene reconstruction involving the informant. This is a critical moment: the trial has been plagued by adjournments each time the confession evidence was due to be heard. Please pray against health problems, legal issues, witness challenges, or anything which could give reason to adjourn the case again.

In a depressing snapshot of what the media are calling ‘Wild West Britain’, there were 4,129 attacks on police officers, hospital staff and prison officers in six months. That number should be significantly higher because 14 constabularies failed to provide figures. The introduction of new laws increasing the maximum sentence for common assault from six months to a year has done little to stem the rising tide of violence. The Metropolitan Police said the figures show that new laws designed to protect emergency workers are not working. ‘Judges are not using their sentencing powers to the full. We want to see them handing down the maximum sentence and saying, “You have attacked an officer and this is what you are getting”. It is the same with carrying a knife, which has a maximum sentence of four years. How many people have ever been given that?’

In 2016 Prayer Alert intercessors were asked to pray for Felix Ngole, a Christian student removed from a postgraduate course in social work at Sheffield University. A judge ruled against him in 2017, but now three Court of Appeal judges have overturned that ruling. Felix said, ‘This is great news for everyone who cares about freedom of speech, especially those working in or studying for caring professions. As Christians we are called to serve others and care for everyone, yet publicly and privately we must also be free to express our beliefs without fear of losing our livelihoods. I am thankful to the judges for recognising that I did not discriminate against anyone.’

On 9 January Asher Samson, from Birmingham, was deported to Pakistan, despite last-minute attempts to convince the authorities that his case warranted a judicial review because the proper procedures had not been followed. Mr Samson came to the UK in 2004 to continue theology training in order to become a pastor. He decided to apply for asylum here after being beaten and threatened with execution by Islamic extremists during visits to Pakistan. A friend from his church writes, ‘He has no close family there, and rightly fears for his life. We can only pray; though on one level that seems so little, we know it is the most effective thing to do.’

The International Justice Mission (IJM) requests our prayers for continued positive momentum in Kenya to bring about reforms that will curb the rise in police violence against the country’s poorest citizens. Dozens of people were killed or have disappeared at the hands of police in 2018, and Kenyan leaders will meet with IJM and other human rights organisations in the new year to develop strategies to address police brutality. Pray for effective reforms that will transform law enforcement from a source of fear into a force for good in Kenya. Human rights organisations now want a task force to be formed, to investigate extrajudicial killings and enforced disappearances.