freed - The African Mirror

Mar

2024

Detained Congolese journalist Bujakera has been freed, lawyer says

STANIS Bujakera, a journalist detained since last September in the Democratic Republic of Congo on charges of spreading false information, was released, his lawyer said. The lawyer, Yana Ndikulu, said Bujakera - who works for international media including Reuters and Jeune Afrique - was released on Tuesday evening from the prison in the capital Kinshasa where he was being held. "Our client is free," Ndikulu said. Bujakera told Reuters the director of the prison had told him he was free to leave shortly after 21:30 local time (2030GMT). A court in the capital Kinshasa on Monday had found Bujakera guilty of spreading…

Jan

2024

By NYASHA CHINGONO

Zimbabwe opposition leader freed from two years’ pre-trial detention

NEWS

A Zimbabwean court freed opposition politician Job Sikhala after nearly 600 days of pre-trial detention on charges of inciting public violence in 2022. Sikhala, 51, a leader in the opposition party Citizens Coalition for Change (CCC), has been arrested dozens of times since he began his political career in 1999. He was jailed in 2022 for obstruction of justice and inciting public violence after saying that the ruling party, ZANU PF, had killed an opposition activist, which it denied. He denied all charges against him. On Tuesday, a Harare magistrate convicted him of inciting public violence but gave him a…

Oct

2023

By JANIS LAIZANS

Freed Israeli hostage says ‘I’ve been through hell’

WORLD

AN elderly Israeli hostage who was released by Hamas overnight said she had been beaten by militants when she was abducted and taken to Gaza on October 7, but was then treated well during her two-week captivity in the Palestinian enclave. Yocheved Lifshitz, 85, was one of two elderly women freed late on Monday, leaving around 220 hostages still in the hands of Hamas, including both of their husbands. "I've been through hell," Lifshitz told reporters, speaking in barely a whisper and seated in a wheelchair outside the Tel Aviv hospital where she was taken following her release. Looking frail, Lifshitz said…

Oct

2023

By NIDAL AL-MUGHRABI and EMILY ROSE

Hamas frees U.S. hostages Judith and Natalie Raanan held in Gaza

WORLD

THE Islamist group Hamas released two U.S. hostages, mother and daughter Judith and Natalie Raanan, who were kidnapped in its attack on southern Israel on Oct. 7, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office said on Friday. The women, who were taken from Nahal Oz kibbutz, near the Gaza border, were on their way to a military base in central Israel, a statement from Netanyahu's office said. Media reports in the United States said they were from Evanston, an Illinois suburb of Chicago. They were the first hostages to be freed since Hamas gunmen burst into Israel nearly two weeks ago, killing…