ZIMBABWEAN COUPLE DEPORTED OVER SECRET BURIAL OF CHILD IN BOTSWANA.(PHOTO)

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 ZIMBABWEAN COUPLE DEPORTED OVER SECRET BURIAL OF CHILD IN BOTSWANA A Zimbabwean couple has been deported from Botswana after secretly burying their child without notifying authorities. Motilinah Mpofu and Christopher Ncube were convicted on Thursday of concealing a death after they allegedly dug a grave for their child in the dead of night. The Gaborone court heard the child had died suddenly. Instead of reporting the death to police, health officials, or traditional leaders, the couple quietly buried the youngster and hoped no one would find out. But the secret did not stay buried for long.   Police moved in and arrested the pair. In sentencing, the court ordered that the couple be taken to the Plumtree Border Post for deportation to Zimbabwe.  Top Botswana lawyer Winnie Masitha who offered the couple free legal representation during the trial, confirmed the deportation to BTV News. Masitha believed that the matter should not be viewed only through the lens of crim...

BURKINA FASO PARLIAMENT PASSES LAW OUTLAWING LGBTQ PRACTICES. (PHOTO).


 Burkina Faso parliament passes law outlawing LGBTQ practices


Burkina Faso’s transitional parliament passed legislation outlawing conduct deemed to promote LGBTQ practices, introducing fines, prison sentences and sanctions for persons convicted, its justice minister said, Reuters reported.


The Persons and Family Code law, making Burkina Faso the latest in a series of African countries to criminalize lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender activity, also tightens rules on nationality and stateless people.


The military that took over Burkina Faso in a 2022 coup has grown increasingly intolerant of dissent amid worsening Islamist militant violence in the West African country.


The legislation was passed unanimously by the unelected, 71-member transitional parliament on Monday and is awaiting the signature of military junta leader Ibrahim Traore.


“The law provides for a prison sentence ranging from two to five years and a fine,” Justice Minister Edasso Rodrigue Bayala said on state television on Monday night.


“A person who (engages in) homosexual practices … will appear before a judge and, in the event of a repeat offence, be deported if you are not a Burkinabe national,” he said.


The government has framed the law as an effort to modernize family law and clarify nationality rules, but rights advocates are likely to call out the restrictions on LGBTQ practices and limits imposed on legal recourse in nationality cases.


Anti-gay laws are in place in various conservative African countries including Senegal, Uganda and Malawi, though some others, including South Africa, Botswana and Angola, have decriminalized LGBTQ practices or enacted protective measures.

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