The African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights has sent an urgent appeal to Niger’s President Abdourahamane Tchiani, made public on 9 November, raising concern over reported restrictions on the Mahamid Arab community’s access to water, education, healthcare and identity documents in the Diffa region, Al Jazeera reports. The appeal does not amount to a formal finding of violations.
Government data in the Democratic Republic of the Congo show 11,042 confirmed Ebola cases and at least 5,387 deaths, the country's largest outbreak on record and the second-largest globally after the 2014–2016 West African epidemic, Al Jazeera and Reuters report.
The Judicial Committee of the Privy Council in London, Trinidad and Tobago’s final court of appeal, ruled on Tuesday in favour of activist Jason Jones, finding that sections 13 and 16 of the 1986 Sexual Offences Act cannot apply to private, consensual relations between adults of the same sex.
Chatham House presented its 2026 Prize to the women of Afghanistan at a ceremony in London on Monday, 9 November, recognising what it called their “collective resistance to systematic gender persecution”. Elaha Safdari of Afghanistan’s women’s national football team accepted the award from Chatham House President and former UK Prime Minister Theresa May.
A Honduran court has postponed to 20 November its verdict in the trial of four men accused in a sex-trafficking case linked to the disappearance of Angie Peña on Roatán island in January 2022, the Associated Press reports. The judiciary cited the need to review evidence and the absence of a court interpreter; defence lawyers deny their clients' involvement and seek acquittal.
Hawa Omar Osman Saleh, whose daughter was gang-raped in Sennar, faces a new case before the Sennar Criminal Court on charges of influencing the course of justice and insulting a public official, 19 days before she is due to complete a six-month prison sentence, Radio Dabanga reported. The complaint was filed by a former trial judge after she criticised an initial verdict in a video.
A London court sentenced British comedian and actor Russell Brand to 10 years and six months in prison for one count of rape and three sexual assaults committed between 2004 and 2009, Reuters reported. Brand, who denied all charges, was acquitted of two other rape counts and one count of attempted indecent assault.
The Republican-led House Oversight Committee released a report on Tuesday after a 15-month inquiry, saying federal prosecutors' "poor judgment", including a 2007 non-prosecution agreement, let Jeffrey Epstein's abuse go unchecked. It recommends that the Justice Department renew its investigation of Epstein's associates and ensure victims can access their files.
The Court allowed the administration to keep building a southern border wall in Texas's Big Bend region, including within Big Bend National Park, after the administration said it had made "meaningful adjustments."
