Spanish police arrest 25 in 'Nigeria sex-trafficking ring'

More than 100 vans were also seized, filled with high-end goods

Spanish police say they have arrested 25 people in a sex-trafficking ring that brought women from Nigeria to work as prostitutes.

The women, allegedly lured with the promise of good jobs in Europe, were first flown to Mexico or Brazil, travelling on false identity documents.

From there, they were flown to Paris, then smuggled into Spain to work in the sex trade, police say.

Five women who were victims of the sex ring were freed in the raids.

Police found one member of the gang performing an abortion on one of the five women, reports the BBC's Madrid correspondent, Tom Burridge.
Hidden goods
Arrests were made across Spain - in Madrid, Toledo, Cantabria and Palma de Mallorca.

More than 100 vans concealing luxury goods were also seized.

The gang used the vans to launder their profits and send them back to Lagos, police say.

The vans, with dark-tinted windows and welded doors, were stocked full of beer but had luxury items hidden deeper inside.

Goods worth an estimated 5m euros (£4.1m; $6.6m) were found in 94 vans seized in Madrid and another 26 in the port of Valencia, including high-end televisions and cases of alcohol.

Police say the gang was formed more than 20 years ago in Nigerian universities and was also known for sending so-called Nigerian letters by email, asking recipients to send money.

Eight of the 25 people arrested were in Spain illegally, they say.



#bbc

Miley Cyrus wears VERY revealing leotard for second performance at MTV EMAs ...But thank goodness there was no twerking or grinding 2nd time!

 

WireImage

We knew she was going to get more naked at some point this evening.
And Miley hasn't let us down.
The 20-year-old twerkster took to the MTV EMAs stage for the second time this evening, and wore a tiny sparkly leotard which revealed the majority of her lower body as she sang Wrecking Ball.
Behind her on the screen was a huge image of her own face, looking all teary and sad.
And we were expecting some kind of naked sledgehammer action.
But instead, Billy Ray's, girl went all serious on us and got quite upset as she sang her heartfelt ballard.
It was nothing like her performance earlier this evening when Miley took to the stage and twerked on a dwarf who was wearing a PVC jumpsuit .
Yes, you read that right.

Miley looking all sad and teary (Empics)

 
Miley landed on the EMA stage in a spaceship and was dressed as an astronaut in a silver bodycon dress and space helmet.
Miley then hopped out with a dwarf by her side and could be seen grinding and shaking her bum on stage as she sang her hit single We Can't Stop to the star-studded crowd.
At one stage she even grabbed the little person's breast and slapped her bottom. Then her PVC-clad companion started patting Miley's bottom too.
It was all very... unexplainable.
Then Miley moved on from her small friend and started twerking on a giant burka-wearing alien.
Amazingly, we didn't see THAT much ofher tongue, and Liam Hemsworth's ex looked more dignified and modest than she did at the VMAs this summer.
But she did turn up in a TINY dress and thigh-high boots earlier .

#mirror.co.uk

Hope at last for Yemen's child brides as the country's leaders finally act to stop forced marriages of girls as young as NINE

• The Yemeni minister for Legal Affairs is to put forward a bill to ban it
• Since 2008, cases of brides as young as nine have come to light
• Campaigners have offered a cautious welcome to the reports
• Harrowing cases include that of Ilham, 13, who died days after her wedding

 

From Sally Al-Sabahi who, after being married at the age of 10, was raped and beaten by her much older husband to 13-year-old Ilham who, in 2010, died from internal bleeding four days after being forcibly married, the plight of Yemen's child brides makes for harrowing reading.

But following international condemnation and campaigns by charities such as UNICEF and Equality Now, the country's government finally appears ready to end the shocking tradition once and for all.

Fouad Al Ghaffari, the director general of Yemen's Ministry of Human Rights, has revealed that the country's minister for Legal Affairs, Mohammed Al Mikhlafi, is to submit a bill that would outlaw child marriages if passed.



Protest: A former child bride attends a demonstration against the practice in the Yemeni capital Sana'a



And in a sign that attitudes might finally be changing in the Middle Eastern country, it was reported last week that police officers stepped in to prevent the marriage of a nine-year-old girl in the southern city of Taiz - the first time such an intervention has taken place.

According to reports on the BBC website, police halted the wedding and convinced the father of the girl, named locally as Hiba, not to allow the nuptials to go ahead.

Although there is nothing currently to prevent Hiba's wedding from happening at a later date, campaigners are cautiously welcoming of the intervention and the news that legislation could be imminent.

'In 2009, the Yemeni parliament considered a draft bill that fixed the minimum age of marriage for girls at age 17 and included penalties and punishment for those in violation,' said Equality Now's Middle East and North Africa consultant, Suad Abu-Dayyeh.

'Unfortunately this was not successful, but we are heartened that the Yemeni Human Rights Minister Hooria Mashhour has requested the reintroduction of this bill, which would effectively ban child marriages in the country.'



Rescued: Nojud Ali, 8, (left) and nine year-old Arwa were granted divorces after being forcibly married in 2008



She added: 'Along with our local partners, the Yemen Women's Union, we wholeheartedly support the minister and the Human Rights Ministry in their efforts to ensure that the government of Yemen lives up to its obligations under international law by passing a law prohibiting child marriage so that girls are no longer forced to undergo the harmful physical and psychological effects of child marriage.


'It is also promising that the government appears to be be taking steps to deal with this issue head-on and protect girls from this devastating abuse.'

Cases recorded since 2008 include that of 11-year-old Wafa who was married in 2010 to a 40-year-old farmer who repeatedly raped and tortured her and 13-year-old Hind, who in 2009, was married to a 70-year-old man.

While many cases end in tragedy, Wafa was one of the lucky ones after Equality Now and local partner Yemeni Women Union (YWU) successfully helped her obtain a divorce.

'My message to other parents is that they should not think of marrying their daughters at a young age, girls should go to school,' said Wafa.


'I don’t want any girl to suffer as I did. Girls should be educated in order to be able to live happily and in dignity.'

 

 

 

 

 

#dailymail

Gov. Chime Attempts To Eject Wife From State House "Detention"

caption: Enugu First Lady, Clara Chime -PhotoCredit: Punch Newspaper

By SaharaReporters, New York

Governor Sullivan Chime of Enugu State today attempted to eject his wife, Clara Chime, from her State House quarters over her decision to go public about his illegal detention of her.

In effect, Mrs. Chime would have regained the freedom she has been denied for months, and for which she has campaigned publicly in the past week.

The governor’s action followed a marathon meeting the governor held with Clara’s Igwe family, during which the governor decided to let her leave the government house.

However, insiders say Mrs. Chime said she would prefer to travel out, preferably to the United Kingdom, to take care of herself and then be allowed to return to her matrimonial home upon completion of her trip.

Sources at the meeting said the governor turned down that offer, instead telling the First Lady to pack out immediately.

Security sources said that her refusal to leave immediately led to an attempt to forcefully eject her from the government house.

Following Mrs. Chime’s refusal to leave unceremoniously, the governor relented and called for another emergency meeting of the family. The meeting was still ongoing as at the time of filing this report.

On Friday, Governor Chime met with a delegation from the National Human Rights Commission for several hours to explain the reason for the confinement of the First Lady to a section of Government House.

Mrs. Chime's public outcry was first reported by SaharaReporters last week. In a letter, she complained she had been confined within Government House and had suffered depression. She subsequently also disclosed the harsh circumstances of her detention, including being threatened by the governor whenever she asked permission to leave.

Mrs. Chime accuses NHRC of accepting a bribe from Governor Chime to write misleading report about her illegal detention in Government House

caption: Clara Chime

By SaharaReporters, New York

Clara Chime, the estranged wife of Enugu State’s Governor Sullivan Chime of Enugu State, has expressed disappointment about the report of the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) about its investigation of her complaint, and asked for it to be withdrawn.

“Apart from the fact that the information was largely false, it showed lack of sensitivity in publishing sensitive medical detail,” she said yesterday in a letter to her lawyer, Femi Falana. “This has the effect of tarnishing and damaging my reputation. It is as though the Commission set out to ridicule me.”

On Friday, the commission, led by its executive secretary, Bem Angwe, travelled to the Enugu State Government House to investigate the alleged forcible detention of Mrs. Chime. Following the visit, the NHRC published an interim report on its website in which it described the issue as a disagreement between the governor and his wife “over the procedure for the treatment of her health challenges, which border on occasional hallucinations and depression.”

In the letter to Mr. Falana, she said, “I made it clear to them that I had a nervous breakdown and found it inexplicable as to how hallucinations featured as part of my symptoms. It is important to make this clear so that the public should be made aware of this and that the Commission should recognise part of her ethos in protecting human dignity.”

Noting suggestions that that the Commission appears biased already because of the profile of the person whose reputation is at stake, she said, “I want to believe that the Commission would approach my case with open mind and in particular recognise me as a victim of crime. I hope that common sense would prevail and that the Commission should now retract the damaging publication and stop stigmatising me.”

In her previous response , Mrs. Chime accused members of the commission of accepting a bribe from Governor Chime to write the misleading report about her illegal detention in Government House, Enugu.