Day: October 7, 2022

German police and their “racist” behaviors are responsible for the death of a Black man in Berlin on Thursday, a rights group said.

The 64-year-old man, Kupa llunga Medard Mutombo, died at a hospital three weeks after he was “brutally” captured by Berlin police officers, who wanted to transfer him from a mental health care institution to a hospital, ReachOut said in a statement.

“We mourn the death of Kupa llunga Medard Mutombo and denounce the practice of lethal violence legitimized by the racist structures of the Berlin police,” it said.

According to the ReachOut, Kupa llunga Medard Mutombo fell to the ground unconscious after police officers used “massive brutal violence” to seize him in his room on Sept. 14. He was later transferred to a hospital due to life-threatening injuries.

“Kupa llunga Medard Mutombo’s death is not an isolated case. We believe that he was killed during this police operation,” the rights group said, after listening to the man’s brother Mutombo Mansamba and witnesses about the incident.

Berlin-based ReachOut counsels victims of right-wing violence, racial profiling and racist police brutality.

According to the group, police brutality against Black people and migrants is a serious problem in Germany, but many cases go unreported, are not properly investigated or punished.

Source: Anadolu Agency

The death of Mahsa Amini, a young Iranian woman, was caused by illness, Iran’s Forensic Medicine Organization said in a report on Friday.

Amini had died as a result of cerebral hypoxia due to sudden heart rhythm disorder, decreased blood pressure and loss of consciousness, and insufficient oxygen to the brain, according to the report.

She underwent brain tumor surgery at the age of eight, and as a result, she had adrenaline and thyroid disorders in the hypothalamus and pituitary gland of the brain.

She used hydrocortisone, levothyroxine, and desmopressin drugs for this reason, according to the report.

“Amini experienced sudden heart rhythm disorder and loss of consciousness due to her chronic illness and inability to cope with the situation she was facing. Amini was suffering from cerebral hypoxia as a result of insufficient intervention at the time of the incident,” the report said.

Source: Anadolu Agency

The death toll from an avalanche in the northern Indian Himalayan state earlier this week has risen to 26, with authorities saying a search for the remaining three missing mountaineers is still underway.

The National Disaster Response Force, assisted by the Indian armed forces, and specialized mountaineering teams are currently involved in the search, which began on Tuesday after an avalanche struck 41 trainees and instructors from the Nehru Institute of Mountaineering in Uttarakhand state.

According to a statement issued by the institute on Friday, the death toll has now increased to 26, including 24 trainee students and two instructors. Twelve climbers were rescued alive but with minor injuries.

The bodies of the victims will be moved by helicopter, depending on weather conditions, according to the statement, which also stated that search and rescue operation for the remaining three missing trainees is underway.

The avalanche struck 34 trainees and seven mountaineering instructors on Tuesday at 8:45 a.m. (0545GMT) near the Dokrani Bamak glacier, while returning from a high-altitude navigation exercise at Mount Draupadi ka Dhanda- II (5,670 meters).

Source: Anadolu Agency

Former South African President Jacob Zuma on Friday completed his 15-month sentence for contempt of court, the Correctional Services department said.

Zuma was sentenced by the Constitutional Court to 15 months in prison for contempt of court for refusing to appear before a judicial commission investigating corruption during his nearly decade-long presidency.

He was admitted into the Estcourt Correctional Center on July 8, 2021, but due to ill health, he was released on medical parole after two months before a court rescinded the “unlawful” parole in December and ruled that he should be returned to prison.

His lawyers, however, successfully challenged the ruling and Zuma served his remaining prison term under house arrest.

“Mr. Zuma complied with his conditions for medical parole as set out during his placement. All administrative processes have now been concluded and sentence expiry date marks the end of him serving his sentence under community corrections,’’ the department said.

Source: Anadolu Agency

The Belgian federal asylum agency has been convicted over 4,500 times this year by the Brussels labor court for failing to provide shelter to asylum seekers, local media reported on Friday.

“As much as 4,832 individual motions have been filed since Jan. 1” against Fedasil for not accepting asylum seekers in the reception centers, Pascal Hubain, press officer of Brussels’ French-speaking labor court, told reporters, according to the VRT news site.

“In more than 90% of the cases, the motions were accepted, which brings us to nearly 4,500 convictions,” he explained, asserting that 5,000 petitions would have been filed by next week at this pace.

In comparison, only 40 single motions were filed on a yearly average between 2014 and 2019, Hubain further said.

Under the law, asylum seekers are entitled to get accommodation and food while their application is processed but many refugees have been turned away by Fedasil because of a lack of capacities.

According to the nongovernmental organizations active in the field, the federal agency gave priority to families with children and first-time asylum seekers, while they did not accept single men or those who already filed a claim in another member state or appealed against the decision of Belgian authorities.

The refused refugees could appeal against the decision at the labor court with the help of lawyers employed by refugee organizations.

Fedasil and refugee organizations have signaled several times that they have reached the limit of their capacities and cannot assume their tasks under the current circumstances.

Source: Anadolu Agency