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Don’t Rush To Destroy Rape Evidence, FIDA Urges Victims

Published

4 years ago

December 11, 2021

The Bauchi State chapter of the International Federation of Women Lawyers (FIDA) on Friday urged parents and relatives of rape victims not to destroy evidence of the act by rushing to clean up the victims but to allow for proper prosecution of the culprits.

This was stated by FIDA Secretary in the state, Hauwa Ahmed Abubakar, at a media roundtable hosted by the state chapter of the Nigeria Association Of Women Journalists (NAWOJ) in collaboration with PLAN international held at the Press Centre secretariat of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ).

According to her, destruction of evidence before reporting to the appropriate quarters was the major reason it was difficult to prosecute most rape cases.

Abubakar explained that whenever there was a rape case, the victim should first be taken to the hospital and the police station for evidence preservation, adding that after doing that, she should be cleaned.

“Without evidence, they cannot do much. The onus is now on all of us, especially the media to make the society to be aware of the need for evidence preservation.

“What is important especially in rape cases is that, once it happens, there is need not to wash the victim which is very hard. When a girl is raped, the first thing is to tidy her up and in doing so, you find the evidences washed away,” Abubakar said.

She said there was an appropriate law in place in the state to use to meet stiff sanctions against rape perpetrators.

The FIDA scribe further explained that though the implementation of the Violence Against Person (Prohibition) Act, enacted to protect victims against gender based violence, was yet to commence in the state, Section 29 of the Penal Code was still in operation for use to convict culprits.

In her remarks, gender specialist, Helen John decried the high prevalence of gender based violence in Bauchi State, informing that statistics revealed that 22 percent of women experience gender based violence in the state.

John informed that one in three women experience gender based violence globally, adding that both men and women experience one form of violence or the other.

Headline

42 Killed In Israeli Attacks, Says Gaza’s Civil Defense

Published

4 hours ago

August 24, 2025

Editor

Gaza’s civil defence agency reported at least 42 people killed in Israeli attacks on Sunday, as the Israeli army prepared for a new assault on the Palestinian territory’s largest city.

Civil defence spokesman Mahmud Bassal said there had been several air strikes around Gaza City — which the military is gearing up to capture — including one in the Al-Sabra neighbourhood that killed eight people.

Attacks were also reported elsewhere across the territory, he said, with the “total tally currently rising to 42 dead”.

The army did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the figure.

“The situation is extremely dangerous… Each day, each minute, there are bombings, martyrs, death and blood — we can’t take it anymore,” Al-Sabra resident Ibrahim Al-Shurafa told AFP, explaining strikes and shelling were ongoing.

“We don’t know where to go. Death follows us everywhere,” he added.

Media restrictions in Gaza and difficulties in accessing many areas mean AFP is unable to independently verify the tolls and details provided by the civil defence agency or the Israeli military.

The October 2023 Hamas attack on Israel that sparked the war resulted in the deaths of 1,219 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official figures.

Israel’s offensive has killed at least 62,686 Palestinians, most of them civilians, according to figures from the health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza that the United Nations considers reliable.

AFP

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Venezuela Frees Eight Opposition Leaders

Published

4 hours ago

August 24, 2025

Editor

Venezuelan authorities released eight opposition leaders from jail early Sunday, including a former congressman and two Italian citizens, and granted house arrest to five others, an opposition politician said.

Most of those released had been charged with corruption in opposition-run mayoral offices.

Also set free was Congressman, Amirico de Grazia, detained amid protests that erupted during President Nicolas Maduro’s reelection in 2024.

“Today, several families are once again embracing their loved ones. We know there are many left, and we have not forgotten them; we continue to fight for everyone,” two-time former presidential candidate Henrique Capriles said on X.

Opposition leaders Victor Jurado, Simon Vargas, Arelis Ojeda Escalante, Mayra Castro, Diana Berrio, Gorka Carnevalli, as well as Italian nationals Margarita Assenzo and de Grazia were released, Capriles said.

Nabil Maalouf, Valentin Gutierrez Pineda, Rafael Ramirez, Pedro Guanipa, and David Barroso were placed under house arrest.

The Italian government confirmed the release of de Grazia and Assenzo, who must appear in court to clarify the conditions of their release. It also vowed to continue working on securing the release of other detained Italians.

“We have always said, and we maintain it: we will talk to whomever we need to talk to so that there is not a single political prisoner in our Venezuela!” Capriles added.

AFP

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Russia, Ukraine Exchange Prisoners Of War, Civilians

Published

4 hours ago

August 24, 2025

Editor

Russia and Ukraine each sent back more prisoners of war on Sunday in the latest in a series of exchanges that have seen hundreds of POWs released this year, the two sides said.

Large-scale prisoner exchanges were the only tangible result of three rounds of talks between Russia and Ukraine in Istanbul between May and July.

They remain one of the few areas of cooperation between the two countries since Russia’s offensive began in 2022.

“On August 24, 146 Russian servicemen were returned from the territory controlled” by Kyiv, the Russian defence ministry said on Telegram.

“In exchange, 146 prisoners of war of the Ukrainian Armed Forces were transferred” to Ukraine, it added. Ukraine did not confirm any figures for the release.

Russia also said that “eight citizens of the Russian Federation—residents of the Kursk region, illegally detained” by Kyiv were also returned.

Ukrainian forces launched a surprise incursion into Russia’s Kursk region in August last year, seizing hundreds of square kilometres (miles) of territory in a major setback for the Kremlin.

Russia deployed thousands of troops from its ally North Korea as part of a counterattack but did not fully reclaim the region until April.

Among the Ukrainians released on Sunday was journalist Dmytro Khyliuk, President Volodymyr Zelensky said.

Khyliuk was kidnapped in the Kyiv region in March 2022. He is finally home in Ukraine,” Zelensky said on social media.

Also freed was former Kherson mayor Volodymyr Mykolayenko, “who spent more than three years in captivity,” Zelensky’s aide Andriy Yermak wrote on X.

“In 2022, he was on the list for return, but Volodymyr voluntarily refused to be exchanged in favour of a seriously ill prisoner with whom he was sharing a cell in a Russian prison,” Yermak said.

AFP