The Ramblings of A Nigerian Mom

....And his sons and henchmen go free Egypt’s former president Hosni Mubarak was sentenced to life imprisonment yesterday after a court convicted him of complicity in the killing of 850 protesters during last year’s Arab Spring uprising that forced him from power. Jubilant Cairo crowds cheered as the judge ordered Mubarak and his interior minister, Habib el-Adly, to face full jail terms. But the mood quickly turned to anger after it was announced that Mubarak’s sons, Gamal and Alaa, and a number of his aides had been cleared of corruption. Ousted Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak attempts to cover his face as he is wheeled into an ambulance after being found guilty Mubarak, 84, who ruled Egypt for nearly 30 years, arrived in court lying on a hospital trolley. He is the first Arab leader to be tried by his own people. After being taken from the court, he was reported to have pleaded with his guards not to send him to prison.

This story is so pathetic that I just have to share. The victim, Ngozie Ugwu Her story: It happened on March 21, 2012. There were three masquerades that day but two were spotted and people started running. I was going to fetch water and as people were running, I equally ran and hid somewhere until the two masquerades passed. After the masquerades passed, I came out and continued with my journey. Soon, I heard a child saying that another masquerade was coming. I didn’t see the masquerade but people were running and I ran to enter into someone’s house. The masquerade emerged from a corner (apiam way) and pushed me into the building where I was running to. I tried to escape but could not. It caught up with me and started beating me. What surprised me was that the masquerade said it has been looking for me for long and had now caught up with me. I sought to know what I did to deserve such treatment and at the same time pleading for forgiveness but it continued...

Finally, Liberia's former president Charles Taylor was this morning sentenced to 50 years in prison for war crimes at an international war crimes court, in The Hague. Taylor was found guilty last month of 11 counts of aiding and abetting war crimes and crimes against humanity by supporting rebels between 1996 and 2002 in return for (blood) diamonds. He was convicted of offenses including murder, rape, sexual slavery, recruiting child soldiers, enforced amputations and pillage.