4 Year-Old Boy Gets ‘Life Imprisonment’ For Alleged Crimes Committed When He Was 2

In a grotesquely strange move, a court in Western Cairo this week sentenced a four-year-old boy to life in prison on various heinous charges bordering on murder, inciting riots, destruction of government property and threatening cops, The Jerusalem Post reports.

 

The little boy, Ahmed Mansour Karni, who was born in September 2012, got the life in prison term on Tuesday, February 16, 2016, after being convicted in absentia of offenses that allegedly occurred two years ago.

Although the boy was less than two years old during the civil unrest in 2014, he was convicted in absentia due to a clerical error and the court’s incompetence. It was gathered that Karni was listed as “wanted” for murder, disturbance of the peace and damaging state property in an indictment that listed 115 other defendants sentenced to life imprisonment. 

The indictment stated the charges against the youngster in full as four counts of murder, eight counts of attempted murder, vandalising property belonging to the Egyptian Health Administration in his home province of el-Fayoum, threatening soldiers and police officers and damaging vehicles belonging to security forces.

Although Karni’s birth certificate was presented to the court, one of his defense attorneys accused the presiding judge of failing to review the case before abruptly passing down a life sentence on a four-year-old child.

Lawyer Faisal a-Sayd asserted, “The child Ahmed Mansour Karni’s birth certificate was presented after state security forces added his name to the list of accused, but then the case was transferred to the military court and the child was sentenced in absentia in an ensuing court hearing. This proves that the judge did not read the case.”

Another Egyptian lawyer Mohammed Abu Hurira issued a fiery response, writing:

“On the eve of injustice and madness in Egypt, a four year-old child was sentenced to life imprisonment. He is accused of disturbance, damage to property and murder. The Egyptian scales of justice are not reversible. There is no justice in Egypt. No reason. Logic committed suicide a while ago. Egypt went crazy. Egypt is ruled by a bunch of lunatics.”

The sentencing also set social media ablaze as netizens pour out their spleen on the Egyptian legal system, accusing the government of corruption and injustice. A blogger and wife of Egyptian human rights activist Nibin Melek wrote in a post that the sentencing “was a blind decision.” 

Aside from ruthlessly punishing innocent children, the Egyptian government has become notorious for imprisoning journalists and escalating police brutality in recent years.

Read More

Pope Francis Approves The Use Of Birth Control In Colombia

The Zika virus which hit Colombia the worst has threatened the very basis of Catholic faith. The Catholic church is always pro-life 100%, but Pope Francis, leader of the faith, shocked a lot of Catholics, Thursday, when he welcomed the option of permitting birth control to aid in the prevention of pregnancy in areas affected by the Zika vrus. 

While flying back to the Vatican after his visit to Mexico, the pope explained in a press conference:

“Avoiding pregnancy is not an absolute evil. In certain cases … it was clear.”

While those who argued against his decision gave their reasons, the Pope made reference to the case of Pope Paul VI who permitted nuns in Africa to “use contraceptives in cases of rape”.

Read Also: ‘It’s Disgraceful To Question My Faith’ -Trump Reacts To Pope Francis

The Pope’s veering from the church’s absolute rejection of birth control will cause a lot of controversy during the proceeding days.

Colombia is an active Catholic-country, as well as being the second-worst country in the World suffering from the Zika virus. The Pope’s words in the country comes with lots of consequences.

Archbishop of Tunja, Monsignor Luis Augusto Castro said in a press conference, Friday,

“These are decisions for each woman to make, but we don’t believe that the solution is so simple.
We must kill Zika, not children.”

Still, while the Pope’s words might upset some individuals or countries against birth-control, Colombia is an active-contraceptive user though over eighty percent of its population are Catholics.

A recent national study states that:

Birth control use among Colombian women between the ages of 15 and 49 varies between 56 and 61 percent depending on the region.

But women in relationships or who are sexually active are much more likely to use contraception, with rates of roughly 80 percent.

Director of the master’s program in sexual and reproductive health at the Universidad El Bosque, Elsa Marino clarified:

The promotion of family planning and the prevention of sexually transmitted infections are priorities for the health sector.

Although the church continues to have influence, the use of traditional methods (coitus interruptus, abstinence and others) has decreased while more modern methods have become more popular. Not all parts of the country are equal, however.

In the Vaupés department, for example, only 47 percent of couples use contraception. But Zika has pushed the government to be even more proactive.

The Colombian government has established the necessity of condom use in sexual relations as a way to prevent transmission of the virus and to prevent pregnancy.

It remains to be seen if the Pope’s new shift in thinking will seep into the general Catholic teachings and they will embrace birth control.

Read Also: Catholic Abortion Law Causes Miscarriages For Several Mothers

The Vatican’s age-old decision of “No birth-control” has been altered by Zika virus.

 

His pronouncement to accept birth control was made regarding the Zika outbreak for the country of Colombia, so far. Though their are other Catholic-countries in South-America also plagued by the disease.

It is left to be known if other Countries with the Catholic faith will follow soon. The Catholic church does not even induce labor to facilitate miscarriage. As long as their is a fetal heartbeat, no Catholic doctor is allowed to abort or control a child’s existence despite it being a risk to the mother’s life.

Thought/Verdict

Ordinarily, staunch Catholics will never accept birth-control but with the Pope of the Vatican, the most revered man in the Catholic faith giving birth control his ‘Okay’, some will not be as staunch as they used to be.

Hit the comment section if you support or oppose the Pope’s new shift in perspective.

Read More

“Beyonce Is Anti-Police”, Tampa Officers Refuse To Volunteer For Sold-Out Performance

Beyonce has been scheduled to perform her sold-out concert slated for April 29 at the Raymond James Stadium, Tampa, Florida; though the concert does not have any police officers from the Tampa Police Department volunteering for security details.

The reason? Her performance of ‘Formation’ at the Super Bowl 50 halftime has been tagged anti-police by critics; and she is blamed for the recent rise in police officer deaths, according to a Sheriff from Tennessee.

Reports across the States have it that unions as well as law enforcement officers have spoken out against Queen Bey’s Black Panther-inspired halftime performance and her “Formation” music video.

They assert it begets imagery of the Black Lives Matter movement.

Baring his mind on the matter, Sheriff Robert Arnold, of Rutherford County, Tennessee, who had gunshots fired at his home on Monday night held a press conference on Tuesday. At the conference, he cited Beyonce’s video and her performance, “essentially blaming the pop star for the recent rise in police officer deaths nationwide”, Fox reported. 

A local News affiliate said the show which is sold-out should had off-duty officers lining up to provide security for the concert but it seems the reverse is the case.

Typically, off-duty officers volunteer to work concerts and sporting events for the extra income, but none have signed up to work security for Beyonce’s April 29 concert at Raymond James Stadium.

Police Spokesman, Steve Hegarty did not state if the lack of sign ups was due to officers’ anger against Beyonce though he explained “the department still has plenty of time to fill those slots”.

Hegarty said:

We’re going to staff it because we have a responsibility to do that regardless of how controversial it might be, who the artist might be, or the politician might be.
This is a couple of months away, so we’ve still got plenty of time to fill those slots.

Tampa Police still have not clarified if officers could be forced to work the concert or if the officers already on duty that night could be reassigned to cover it.

Thoughts/Verdict:

They will provide Beyonce with security details or her fans will work as security details that day and the officers will have a harder time bringing decorum to the county.

Read More

Wedding Inspiration

“One is very crazy when in love.”
 
–Sigmund Freud

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

   

 

   

 

 

Read More

MUSIC: E-Flame – Believe

Official release of the long awaited single by ace producer, motivational singer and song writer Eflame, after leaving the music scene for a while to work on his co-artiste and team mate as a Producer and Manager. E-flame is here with this brand new single titled “BELIEVE” produced by UK Based Producer @EminikOfficial. This song is definitely going to speak to you, encourage you and lift your spirit. I urge you to BELIEVE in God, trust in him, cause if you BELIEVE you’ll receive.

Download, Listen and Share.

  DOWNLOAD: E-Flame - Believe (5.3 MiB, 61 hits)

Read More