Skip to main content

Denis Mukwege on 24 hours protection after he received death threats for demanding justice for crimes committed in Congo

UN places Nobel Peace Prize winner, Denis Mukwege on 24 hours protection after he received death threats for demanding justice for crimes committed in Congo
Denis Mukwege

The United Nations has redeployed military troops to guard Nobel Peace Prize winner, Denis Mukwege, after he received death threats for demanding justice for serious crimes committed in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).

 

Mukwege, a joint winner of the Nobel peace prize in 2018 alongside Nadia Murad for their efforts to end the use of sexual violence as a weapon of war and armed conflict - is a gynecologist whose career has spanned more than 20 years.

 

During his career, he has spoken against several crimes going on in his homeland of Congo.

 

Denis, who is also a pentecostal pastor, founded and works in Panzi Hospital in Bukavu, where he specializes in the treatment of women who have been raped by armed rebels.

 

Mukwege survived a major assassination attempt in October 2012 when armed men entered his home, fired shots and killed his bodyguard.

 

The assassination attempt came several weeks after a speech at the United Nations where he denounced the Democratic Republic of the Congo's 16-year-long conflict and called for justice for the crimes and killings.


Mukwege, on social media and UN meetings, has often asked for the implementation of recommendations of a 2010 UN investigation which described more than 600 alleged violent incidents occurring in Congo between 1993 and 2003. He has also been vocal against Rwanda's alleged involvement in the Congo crisis.

 

Now, the UN wary of another attemot on his life, has put him and his family under 24 hours protection by UN military.

 

The UN said the recent threats against Dr. Mukwege via social media and in direct phone calls to him and his family "followed his condemnation of the continued killing of civilians in eastern DRC and his renewed calls for accountability for human rights violations and abuses."

 

UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet also recently warned Mukwege is "at serious risk."

In a tweet on Thursday September 10, Mukwege said: "We welcome the redeployment of elements from #MONUSCO to #Panzi this morning to ensure the safety of our patients and staff," 
"Thank you to the #UN for ensuring our protection."

 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Parents charged in horrific murder of their 4-year-old daughter who was boiled alive on New Year's day

                      A Michigan couple has been charged with one of the most heinous murders that is being referred to as the "worst child death case" ever after their 4-year-old daughter died in a "scalding bath" in Michigan. Candice Diaz, 24, and Brad Fields, 28, were charged with murder, torture, and child abuse and both denied bail. Gabrielle died on New Year's Day after living a life filled with abuse. Doctors say she suffered multiple injuries, including severe burns on her limbs after she was in a bath with scalding hot water. A medical practitioner, who examined Gabrielle Barrett's body, described the alleged murder as the "worst child death case" in 27 years of his career, according to a court document. The document also allegedly states that the four-year-old was burned so badly that her big toe fell off, and police found melted skin in the drain. Gabrielle's mother, Diaz, and her partner, Fi...
Post a Comment
Read more

Mrs Len Burton was a Cotswolds mother of three renowned for her perfect scones - but was also a colonel in Russian intelligence who sent Britain's atomic secrets from her privy

Ben Macintyre's book Agent Sonya tells the story of Soviet spy Colonel Ursula Kuczynski Ben Macintyre's book Agent Sonya tells story of  Colonel Ursula Kuczynski  She lived in Oxfordshire hamlet Great Rollright and was known as Mrs Burton  The spy was on active duty and had radio transmitter tuned to Soviet intelligence She fled to East Berlin in 1950 and retired as a spy before dying in 2000 aged 93 Her scones were the envy of the Oxfordshire hamlet of Great Rollright, where the friendly woman known as Mrs Burton lived in a stone farmhouse. In her late 30s, she moved there with her three children and husband Len just after the end of World War II.  She had a faint foreign accent but the locals took no notice and she soon became a stalwart of village life. They were unaware of the massive secret she was hiding — one that even now, 75 years later, had me reeling in amazement at the audacity and ingenuity it involved on her part.  And the unforgivable treache...
Post a Comment
Read more

Kaduna state House of Assembly approves castration as punishment for rapists

  The Kaduna state House of Assembly has approved castration as punishment for anyone convicted of rape in the state.   The Assembly gave the approval following the passage of a bill to amend the Kaduna state penal court law, 2017, by the lawmakers on Thursday, September 10. The assembly announced the approval on its Twitter handle but deleted the tweet afterward.   “The Bill Recommend total Castration for Rapist in the State,” the assembly's deleted tweet read   However, the majority leader of the assembly also tweeted about the development. “A bill to amend the Kaduna State Penal Court Law No.5 of 2017 has yesterday 09/09/2020 been pass into Law by @Kadlegislature. The Bill Recommend total Castration for Rapist in the State,” the tweet read. In July this year, the state governor, Nasir El-Rufai, said the justice system of the state will no longer grant bail to rapists. He disclosed this when a group of women, advocating for justice for rape victims, staged a p...
Post a Comment
Read more