Slavery levels in UK 'higher than thought'

There could be between 10,000 and 13,000 victims of slavery in the UK, higher than previous figures, analysis for the Home Office suggests.
Modern slavery victims are said to include women forced into prostitution, "imprisoned" domestic staff and workers in fields, factories and fishing boats.
The figure for 2013 is the first time the government has made an official estimate of the scale of the problem.
The Home Office has launched a strategy to help tackle slavery.
It said the victims included people trafficked from more than 100 countries - the most prevalent being Albania, Nigeria, Vietnam and Romania - as well as British-born adults and children.
Data from the National Crime Agency's Human Trafficking Centre last year put the number of slavery victims in the UK at 2,744.
The assessment was collated from sources including police, the UK Border Force, charities and the Gangmasters Licensing Authority.
The Home Office said it used established statistical methodology and models from other public policy contexts to estimate a "dark figure" that may not have come to the NCA's attention.
It said the "tentative conclusions" of its analysis is that the number of victims is higher than thought.
Concerted action
The Modern Slavery Bill going through Parliament aims to provide courts in England and Wales with new powers to protect people who are trafficked into the countries and held against their will. Scotland and Northern Ireland are planning similar measures.

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Egypt court dismisses murder charges against Mubarak

An Egyptian court has thrown out a case against former President Hosni Mubarak for conspiring to murder protesters during the 2011 Egyptian revolution due to a technicality and lack of jurisdiction.

Mubarak and his sons Alaa and Gamal were also cleared by Chief Judge Mahmoud Kamel al-Rashidi of corruption charges related to exporting gas to Israel.

The same Cairo court acquitted Habib al-Adli, former Mubarak-era interior minister, and six senior security commanders of conspiracy to murder protesters.

Al Jazeera’s senior political analyst Marwan Bishara said the trial was highly politicised and the verdict was “stunning”.

“I am speechless,” he said. “Because the judge has told us not to discuss his verdict until we have examined the 1,430 page document.”

“This is an arrogant attempt to make the Egyptian people feel sorry for coming out to the streets,” he added.

“This is trying to retrieve the old Egypt and basically clear three decades of dictatorship. Basically we have everyone that has been in charge of the violence and corruption cleared of all charges, while in prison we have thousands of peaceful civil rights activists.”

Mubarak, 86, had been accused along with the former police commanders of involvement in the killing of 846 demonstrators during the 2011 revolt that ended his three-decade rule. Only 239 of the deaths were considered by the court, the presiding judge said.

An appeals court had overturned an initial life sentence for Mubarak in 2012 on a technicality.

The new verdict was initially scheduled for September 27, but Judge Rashidi postponed it, saying he had not finished writing the reasoning after a retrial that saw thousands of case files presentedAn Egyptian court has thrown out a case against former President Hosni Mubarak for conspiring to murder protesters during the 2011 Egyptian revolution due to a technicality and lack of jurisdiction.

Mubarak and his sons Alaa and Gamal were also cleared by Chief Judge Mahmoud Kamel al-Rashidi of corruption charges related to exporting gas to Israel.

The same Cairo court acquitted Habib al-Adli, former Mubarak-era interior minister, and six senior security commanders of conspiracy to murder protesters.

Al Jazeera’s senior political analyst Marwan Bishara said the trial was highly politicised and the verdict was “stunning”.

“I am speechless,” he said. “Because the judge has told us not to discuss his verdict until we have examined the 1,430 page document.”

“This is an arrogant attempt to make the Egyptian people feel sorry for coming out to the streets,” he added.

“This is trying to retrieve the old Egypt and basically clear three decades of dictatorship. Basically we have everyone that has been in charge of the violence and corruption cleared of all charges, while in prison we have thousands of peaceful civil rights activists.”

Mubarak, 86, had been accused along with the former police commanders of involvement in the killing of 846 demonstrators during the 2011 revolt that ended his three-decade rule. Only 239 of the deaths were considered by the court, the presiding judge said.

An appeals court had overturned an initial life sentence for Mubarak in 2012 on a technicality.

The new verdict was initially scheduled for September 27, but Judge Rashidi postponed it, saying he had not finished writing the reasoning after a retrial that saw thousands of case files presentedAn Egyptian court has thrown out a case against former President Hosni Mubarak for conspiring to murder protesters during the 2011 Egyptian revolution due to a technicality and lack of jurisdiction.

Mubarak and his sons Alaa and Gamal were also cleared by Chief Judge Mahmoud Kamel al-Rashidi of corruption charges related to exporting gas to Israel.

The same Cairo court acquitted Habib al-Adli, former Mubarak-era interior minister, and six senior security commanders of conspiracy to murder protesters.

Al Jazeera’s senior political analyst Marwan Bishara said the trial was highly politicised and the verdict was “stunning”.

“I am speechless,” he said. “Because the judge has told us not to discuss his verdict until we have examined the 1,430 page document.”

“This is an arrogant attempt to make the Egyptian people feel sorry for coming out to the streets,” he added.

“This is trying to retrieve the old Egypt and basically clear three decades of dictatorship. Basically we have everyone that has been in charge of the violence and corruption cleared of all charges, while in prison we have thousands of peaceful civil rights activists.”

Mubarak, 86, had been accused along with the former police commanders of involvement in the killing of 846 demonstrators during the 2011 revolt that ended his three-decade rule. Only 239 of the deaths were considered by the court, the presiding judge said.

An appeals court had overturned an initial life sentence for Mubarak in 2012 on a technicality.

The new verdict was initially scheduled for September 27, but Judge Rashidi postponed it, saying he had not finished writing the reasoning after a retrial that saw thousands of case files presented

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U.N. releases U.S. torture report

The events in Ferguson, Missouri, are a "tragedy," but the U.N. Committee Against Torture "has to respect the decision" of authorities not to prosecute police Officer Darren Wilson in the fatal shooting of Michael Brown, committee member Alessio Bruni said Friday.
Bruni spoke at a news conference about the release of a committee report that criticizes, among other things, racial profiling and excessive use of force by U.S. police.
While the report does not specifically mention the Ferguson case, it does express concern about the militarization of U.S. police departments.
The U.S. was one of eight countries getting a periodic review of compliance with the U.N. Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment.
The other countries getting reports from the committee Friday were Sweden, Ukraine, Venezuela, Australia, Burundi, Croatia and Kazakhstan.
Much of the 16-page report that focuses on the U.S. deals with Guantanamo Bay and the treatment of detainees there, but it also includes a section on police brutality and criticizes "excessive use of force by law enforcement officials, in particular against persons belonging to certain racial and ethnic groups."
The report's release comes about two weeks after Brown's parents spoke to the committee in Geneva, Switzerland, in testimony behind closed doors. Though the talk was private, the delegation that organized their trip said the couple told the committee that Brown's killing, and force used by police officers during protests that followed, "represent violations of the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment."
The U.N. report mentions "deep concern at the frequent and recurrent police shootings or fatal pursuits of unarmed black individuals."
Instances of police brutality should be investigated by entities that have "no institutional or hierarchical connection between the investigators and the alleged perpetrators," the report recommends.
The U.N committee also expressed concern about juveniles in the criminal justice system, the use of the death penalty and sexual violence in the U.S. military.

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Gunmen kidnap three expatriate workers in Bayelsa State

By Samuel Oyadongha, Yenagoa
Unidentified gunmen have kidnapped three expatriate workers in Bayelsa State.
Saturday Vanguard learnt the expatriates were seized, Wednesday, at Emakalakala in Ogbia local government area of the state.
The abduction, has again brought to the fore the parlous state of security in the riverine enclave of the state where pirates and other criminal elements have been terrorizing law abiding citizens.
Though the nationalities of the abducted expatriates could not be ascertained they were said to be working for a construction firm, Elmerit.
Sources told Saturday Vanguard that the gunmen snatched their victims who were working on road projects in the area at gunpoint and dragged them into a waiting boat and sped away into the surrounding creeks.
As at press time, no group had claimed responsibility for the abduction.
The Spokesman of the Joint Task Force in the Niger Delta code-named ‘Operation Pulo Shield’, Colonel Mustapha Anka, and the state Acting Police Public Relations Officer, Mr. Rowland Eboka could not be reached for comments.
But a security source, who pleaded not to be named confirmed the abduction.
He added that security operatives were already combing the area with a view to rescuing the victims and bring the perpetrators to book

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Nigerian mosque attack deaths climb to 120

    UPDATED: NOV 29, 2014 01:23 GMT
At least 120 people were killed and 270 others wounded on Friday when two suicide bombers blew themselves up and gunmen opened fire on a Muslim congregation at Friday prayers in the central mosque in northern Nigeria's largest city of Kano, a rescue official said.
The official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said the toll could rise, as some of the wounded were in critical condition and may not survive.
A third bomb exploded outside the mosque among a crowd of worshipers.
The attacks come two weeks after the emir of Kano, Muhammad Sanusi II, one of Nigeria's most influential monarchs, called for self-defense, urging people to procure arms and fight Islamist militant group Boko Haram‎, which has a significant presence in the area.
The emir made the call at the same mosque where Friday's attack occurred.
Although there was no immediate claim of responsibility, Boko Haram is the main suspect. Many believe the attacks were reprisals for the emir's call to arms against the terror group.
A CNN reporter at the morgue of the Murtala Mohammed Specialist Hospital -- one of two hospitals treating victims of the attacks -- counted 94 bodies and was told by a health professional involved in collecting bodies that 38 bodies already had been identified and taken by relations for burial.
"We have around 140 dead bodies brought from the mosque and more than 160 being treated for various injuries," the health professional said, asking not to be named because he was not authorized to speak on casualties.
"This is only for this hospital. Other corpses and wounded victims have been taken to Nassarawa Specialist Hospital," he said.
At Nassarawa Specialist Hospital, a rescue worker said the facility had received scores of injured and dead.

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