One of Culture Kitchen's regular bloggers is Leo Igwe, a Humanist living in Nigeria and fighting against religious extremism. Most recently he has been campaigning against child abuse by an extremist Christian sect in Nigeria and this has gotten him attacked by a mob and harassed by police. The extremist Christian sect sued Leo and several other child rights activists in Nigeria.

Today we hear from Leo that a judge has dropped all of the fictitious charges against him. Here's a press release from Leo:

February 4 2010

Helen Ukpbabio: Court Strikes out Case against Child Rights Campaigners

Today the Federal High Court in Calabar struck out the case brought against me and other child rights campaigners including the government of Akwa Ibom state by Helen Ukpabio and other members of the Liberty Gospel Church. In November Helen and some of her church members went to court seeking to enforce their rights to believe in God, Satan and witchcraft. They claimed that the seminars and conferences organised in Nigeria by the Nigerian Humanist Movement and other child rights groups to tackle witchcraft related abuses infringed on their rights to spread the gospel. They asked the court to order us to pay them two hundred billion naira(I.3 billion dollars) as damages for unlawful and unconstitutional infringement of their rights.

For the second time, Helen and her lawyers were not in court. So the lawyer leading the defence team, Barrister Madaki asked the court to strike out the case due lack of diligent prosecution. And the court granted his request.

The striking out of this case is a welcome development. It is a victory for justice, human rights and the rule of law in Nigeria. This decision by the court is a vindication of the child rights campaigners and the great work they are doing rescuing and saving the lives of children abused and abandoned in the name of witchcraft in Nigeria. It is a clear evidence that Helen Ukpabio and her church members have no case.

They instituted this court action to stop their arrest and prosecution for the attack of July 29 in Calabar.

Nigerian Humanist Movement and its partner groups will continue to work and campaign to eradicate all forms of human rights abuses in the name of witchcraft.

Leo Igwe, Ibadan, Nigeria
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One year ago, Kieth Olbermann said it just right:

What I don't understand is how two consenting adults loving each other threatens anyone else? My marriage isn't threatened if gays can marry!

This comes from Amnesty International:

Myanmar's military junta extended Nobel Peace laureate and pro-democracy leader Daw Aung San Suu Kyi's imprisonment by 18 months today after finding her guilty of violating the terms of her house arrest.

Critics of Myanmar's military regime condemned the outcome of the 3-month sham trial,1 calling it a pretext to keep Suu Kyi out of the running during next year's presidential elections.2

The junta — which currently detains more than 2,100 political prisoners — commuted Suu Kyi's sentence from three years hard labor in prison to an 18-month extension to her house arrest in the hopes that the international community will view the reduced sentence as an act of leniency.

But Suu Kyi should have never been imprisoned in the first place.

Suu Kyi's deplorable imprisonment has been denounced by everyone from heads of state worldwide to nine of Suu Kyi's fellow Nobel laureates. Join the court of world opinion in condemning Daw Ang San Suu Kyi's sham trial. Tell the leader of Myanmar's military junta that Suu Kyi shouldn't serve another minute of her sentence.
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I only noticed this through an indirect route. His name came up in a discussion on Kiva I came across for other reasons. But it seems on July 30th, Leo Igwe, who sometimes writes articles for Culture Kitchen, was attacked by a mob in Nigeria. This is from a letter written by the International Humanist and Ethical Union (which Leo works for) the Nigerian High Commission in the UK:

According to an eye-witness account, about two hundred members of Liberty Gospel Church stormed the venue of the symposium on Thursday, 30 July. They attacked Mr Igwe, took his bag, his camera and his mobile phone as well as destroying his spectacles. Liberty Gospel Church, led by Helen Akpabio, has been alleged to have held ‘trials’ of children suspected of being witches and many of these children have been killed after having been found guilty by such ‘trials’.

And from an article on AllAfrica.com:

In another development, Stepping Stones, a UK-based NGO has alleged that Helen Ukpabio's campaign of terror against children and those committed to fighting for their rights took a new turn last week when a large group of her supporters raided a child rights conference in Calabar and attacked a number of the delegates. The conference, which was on the theme of "Child Rights and Witchcraft", had been organised by the Nigerian Humanist Movement and the UK charity Stepping Stones Nigeria in response to the widespread abandonment, torture and killing of children in Akwa Ibom and Cross River States due to the

belief in child 'witches'. As the day began, at around 10.30 am, a group of religious extremists dressed in orange raided the venue and began protesting loudly.

The extremists, who are believed to be members of Helen Ukpabio's Church, Liberty Foundation Gospel Ministries, were carrying a number of banners with slogans such as, "We give freedom to the witches" and "Stepping Stone is not a registered organisation". Eventually, after an hour and a half, the police turned up and dispersed the mob. One person was arrested.

The conference co-ordinator Leo Igwe, the Executive Secretary of the Nigerian Humanist Movement, was viciously beaten during the attack and had his phone and camera stolen by the angry mob. Speaking after the event Leo said: "The conference was a peaceful meeting for people to openly debate what could be done to prevent the abuse of child rights linked to the belief in witchcraft. This attack by Helen Ukpabio's supporters once again highlights the depravity of this so-called "woman of God". Such false prophets should be immediately arrested and prosecuted under the child rights Act".

Leo's most recent posts on Culture Kitchen dealt with this topic. You can read about it in the following articles:

Campaign of Terror unleashed on Nigeria’s ‘Witch Children’

BRINGING EVANGELIST HELEN UKPABIO TO JUSTICE/CAMPAIGN UPDATE

And you can contact the Nigerian embassy on this subject here:

http://www.nigeriaembassyusa.org/contact.shtml

This comes from Amnesty International:

Aung San Suu Kyi faces her oppressors this week on charges that could land her in jail for five years.

The trial comes just days before she was set to be released from house arrest.

Her life is on the line. Aung San Suu Kyi's health is at risk, and five years of torture and abuse at the infamous Insein prison1 could spell disaster.

Our rapid response to these developments started last week in Australia (a member of ASEAN) when the Amnesty section there mobilized and generated over 7,000 letters to ASEAN.2 Just a few hours ago, the chairman of ASEAN called on Myanmar to release Aung San Suu Kyi.

With the international pressure snowballing,3 it's time to focus on General Than Shwe, leader of the military junta.
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In March, the UN Human Rights Council passed a resolution on combating defamation of religions. The resolution sponsored by Pakistan on behalf of the Organization of Islamic Conference (OIC) expressed deep concern over “the instances of intolerance, discrimination and acts of violence against followers of certain faiths occurring in many parts of the world”. In addition, it noted with dismay the negative projection of certain religions in the media and the introduction and enforcement of laws and administrative measures that specifically discriminate against and target persons with certain ethnic and religious backgrounds particularly Muslim minorities following the events of 11 September 2001. The resolution stressed that “defamation of religions is a serious affront to human dignity leading to a restriction on the freedom of religion of the adherents and incitement to religious hatred and violence”.
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