Charity linked to Prince Harry ‘admits human rights abuses following claims of rangers beating and raping locals'
A MAJOR charity linked to Prince Harry has admitted that its park rangers committed human rights abuses.
The Duke of Sussex, 40, served as the president of conservation charity African Parks from 2017 to 2023, before stepping down and becoming a board member.
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The admission comes after an investigation by the Mail on Sunday in January alleged that guards working for the organisation in the Republic of Congo committed human rights abuses.
The report alleged that the non-profit subjected indigenous people to a range of abuses, including rape and torture.
The charity has now admitted that human rights abuses did take place.
The admission follows a review by Omnia Strategy, a London-based law firm that had been investigating the alleged abuse since December 2023.
They did not publish the full findings or recommendations - and instead sent them straight to African Parks.
There is no suggestion that any of the alleged abuses took place when Harry was president of the organisation or on its board.
It also did not make any suggestion that Prince Harry was aware of any of the alleged abuses.
The non-profit said that they had reviewed Omnia's advice and "endorsed the management plan and timeframes to implement the recommendations".
They then said in a bombshell admission: "African Parks acknowledges that, in some incidents, human rights abuses have occurred."
African Parks added that they "deeply regret the pain and suffering that these [abuses] have caused to the victims".
Prince Harry's torched any chance of an olive branch from the king - he isn't trusted
The organisation added that Omnia's landmark review "highlighted several failures of our systems", in particular during the early years of management of a national park called Odzala.
Prince Harry has been closely involved in understanding the findings and implementing any necessary recommendations, according to The Telegraph.
He was made a member of the Board of Directors in 2023 when he ended his tenure as president of the charity.
Harry is no longer on the charity's board.
African Parks is one of Africa's largest conservation charities.
Headquartered in Johannesburg, it manages 23 protected areas in 13 African countries.
The admission comes after the Duke of Sussex was caught up in a blistering row with the boss of his charity Sentebale after he sensationally quit the trust.
The Duke of Sussex had set the African charity up in 2006 in memory of his mum, Princess Diana, along with his pal Prince Seeiso of Lesotho.
But the pair then revealed they have sided with their charity's furious trustees after they unanimously resigned following a row with board chair Sophie Chandauka.
The charity's boss then released an explosive statement in which she slammed "unthinkable" infighting in the organisation as well as made claims that there had been a "cover-up".
Chandauka, a Zimbabwe-born lawyer, was selected to be chair of the trustees last year.
However, it is understood the trustees strongly opposed this move and had wanted her to step down - a move which has seen her sue.
The bitter feud appeared to be triggered by the move to transfer the charity's fundraising operation to Africa, which caused several key figures to quit the organisation.
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The Guardian
2 hours ago
- The Guardian
The idea was to crush his spirit': family of jailed British-Egyptian man describe awful prison conditions
Family, friends and supporters of the jailed British-Egyptian activist Alaa Abd el-Fattah have spoken about the conditions of his long imprisonment as his mother, Laila Soueif, remains in a London hospital in declining health on a hunger strike to secure his release. Amid a mounting campaign to put pressure on British ministers to intervene more forcefully on Abd el-Fattah's behalf, supporters say his continued detention is part of a campaign of vengeance motivated by the personal animus of the Egyptian president, Abdel Fatah al-Sisi, towards him. The activist, who came to prominence during Egypt's 2011 Tahrir Square protests, has been jailed twice, the second time months after his release from prison in 2019, and continues to be imprisoned despite completing his five-year sentence last autumn. Abd el-Fattah's first period in prison – from 2015 to 2019 – was spent in the Tora maximum-security prison, a place designed to hold violent jihadists, but since 2018 he has been held in Wadi al-Natrun in Beheira province in the Nile delta. While the physical conditions are less harsh than in Tora – where Abd el-Fattah was beaten – his treatment in Wadi al-Natrun has been designed deliberately to isolate and demoralise him, say supporters, depriving him for three years of books and limiting his contact with other prisoners. Between September 2019 to May 2022 he was held in a small, poorly ventilated cell, denied a bed and mattress as well as reading materials and exercise. 'The idea was to crush his spirit,' says Mona Seif, his sister, who has visited her brother in jail. 'I think after so many trials and attempts to break him, the regime has realised that the way crush to him is to isolate him from the world and render him mute. That's been the tactic since his second period in jail beginning in 2019.' What has become clear to Seif, and others campaigning to release him, is that the treatment of her brother is being driven by a very personal animosity directed at Abd el-Fattah and his family by Egypt's president. 'It seems very personal,' says Seif. 'Since 2019 the unofficial messages we have been getting from different Egyptian institutions is that our file is with Sisi.' Abd el-Fattah was a familiar and always approachable figure in Tahrir Square during the 2011 mass protests that led to the fall of the government of Hosni Mubarak. Articulate, passionate and thoughtful, his great skill was seen in bringing different groups together. Sentenced to jail for organising a political protest without permission in 2015, Abd el-Fattah was briefly released in March 2019 but was rearrested months later and charged with spreading 'fake news undermining national security' for a retweet. One person with a personal insight into what Abd el-Fattah has been through is the activist and poet Ahmed Douma, who was imprisoned during his first spell in jail in Tora, where for 10 months the two men were in separate, solitary cells facing each other, until the authorities decided their proximity was a problem. Unlike Abd el-Fattah, Douma was pardoned and released by Sisi in 2023. January 2011 – when 18 days of mass protests led to the resignation of the then president, Hosni Mubarak – 'was, still is, and will forever remain a personal enemy to Sisi. And Alaa was one of the symbols of that period,' Douma told the Guardian. 'At the same time, he's an activist who has audience and influence – a thinker with his own philosophy and interest in how political movements develop, how people move, how they understand things. 'And of course, he also became a symbol of the stupidity of the authorities. 'The truth is that even one hour in prison inevitably leaves an impact, and it's not trivial,' adds Douma, who spent more than 10 years in prison. 'There's depression from what happened in prison, whether things that happened to you directly or which you witnessed. Torture, assault and so on. 'It's not just the impact on the body, but on the mind. At some point, you realise that you've been in solitary confinement for days, months, days or years, with no communication. I haven't even begun the journey of recovery from the effects of those 10 years.' Aida Seif El-Dawla, a psychiatrist, human rights defender and co-founder of El Nadeem Center for the Rehabilitation of Victims of Violence, says: 'Look, in Egypt, detention is a psychological torture. I don't know what those people are punished for except that they expressed an opinion. And to put people in prison because they expressed an opinion, that's not a legal punishment. But apparently, Abdel Fatah al-Sisi thinks otherwise. 'This is the punishment of the saddest father who tortures his children for non-obedience.' What is clear is that the Egyptian authorities regard Abd el-Fattah's detention as open ended, holding him beyond his originally scheduled release date and also holding another potential prosecution over him. Sign up to First Edition Our morning email breaks down the key stories of the day, telling you what's happening and why it matters after newsletter promotion Mahmoud Shalaby, a researcher at Amnesty International who deals with Egypt, says: 'The whole thing is about making an example of him. He's already been brutally punished. He has spent almost 10 years in prison solely for practising his human rights. Alaa's case is extremely extraordinary, especially as Egypt has a history of releasing dual nationals who are arbitrarily detained. 'I think the fear is that if he was released, he would go abroad and criticise the government from there. But that's not a reason to keep him arbitrarily in prison.' His lawyer, Khaled Ali, says: 'Alaa should have been released on 28 September last year.' Instead, the courts have declined to include his period of pretrial detention, prior to ratification of the sentence, meaning he will not be released until 2027 – if then. Ali says: 'He was sentenced to five years in prison and he has been detained since 28 September 2019. His sentence should have ended on 28 September 2024.' After a hunger strike in 2022, Abd el-Fattah has been allowed access to books and now a television in Wadi al-Natrun, from where he is able to write and receive letters from his family. 'Alaa and my mum are both big science fiction fans and so he reads a massive amount,' says Seif. 'Science fiction, graphic novels and anything to do with science. Now he is allowed a television, he follows tournaments. He'll treat a tournament as a whole project. If Wimbledon is on, he will follow for the day. 'But because of the way the prison was constructed, the exercise area is a big hole with concrete walls and no ceiling. He hasn't walked in sun for over five years.' The family are able to monitor his mood via his response to the cats that have sought shelter in the prison and whom he has adopted. 'If his mood is good he shares lots of pictures of the cats.' His mood in recent months as his release date has come and gone has not been good. Attempts by successive British governments and EU officials – among others – to intervene behind the scenes have been a failure as Egypt has faced no consequences for its human rights abuses. Lacking interlocutors with influence within Sisi's immediate circle, Abd el-Fattah's case is stuck, even as his mother's health in London has dangerously worsened. One person who has been involved in advocacy for Abd el-Fattah says: 'The policy of private engagement has been going on for over 10 years. You only see movement on human rights issues in Egypt where there is the threat of action.' Seif says: 'They just want his absolute surrender and Alaa completely broken and mimicking the regime's narrative. Even the slightest indication of independence they see as defiance. The whole thing is a senseless act of pure vengeance that leaves us to keep guessing, what is it for, and when will be enough.' Ahmed Douma adds: 'If I could send him a message and tell him anything, I would tell him that we are with him. And that his freedom and Laila's life are our personal battle.'
The Guardian
9 hours ago
- The Guardian
Families arrested in LA Ice raids held in basements with little food or water, lawyers say
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The one fan in the room was pointed directly towards a guard, rather than towards the families in confinement, they told lawyers. 'Because it was primarily men held in these facilities, they didn't have separate quarters for families or for women,' said Yliana Johansen-Méndez, chief program officer at ImmDef. Clients explained that 'eventually they set up a makeshift tent in an outside area to house the women and children. But clearly, there were no beds, no showers.' They have since been transferred to a 'family detention' center in Dilley, Texas, a large-scale holding facility retrofitted to hold children with their parents that was reopened under the Trump administration. Lawyers, who had been largely blocked from communicating with immigrants arrested amid the ramped-up raids in LA, said family members were able to recount the ordeal only after they were moved out of state. The harrowing details are the first to emerge about the conditions that people are being held in following the immigration raids targeting LA-area businesses and neighborhoods. To quell the widespread protests that followed, Donald Trump sent in military troops despite opposition from California leaders. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has said that it arrested 118 immigrants on Friday and over the weekend. Others were arrested at immigration offices and courthouses in the days prior. ImmDef and other local advocacy groups had compiled a separate list of more than 80 people who were apprehended – though many of them still do not appear in the agency's online databases of detainees. Many of the people arrested were jailed ad hoc, in LA-area courthouses and administrative offices. Over the past several days, attorneys have taken shifts waiting outside federal immigration offices, attempting to speak to the immigrants, but federal agents and national guard troops have largely blocked lawyers and family members from visiting with those who were arrested, citing safety concerns amid widespread protests in the city. On Tuesday, the immigration court in downtown Los Angles had been shut down – and blocked off. DHS did not immediately respond to multiple Guardian queries about where it was holding people arrested in LA, and whether local offices had been given instruction to prepare supplies and facilities to hold immigrants prior to the large-scale raids in the region. Legal aid groups were also largely denied access to immigrants who were transferred to the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice) processing center and detention center in Adelanto, in the high desert east of LA. 'Ice's excuse was, they're still processing all the new people,' said Johansen-Méndez. Over the weekend and on Monday, her colleagues were only permitted to visit with a handful of clients at the Adelanto detention center, even though they had called ahead to confirm that at least 40 people referred to the organization had been sent there. Several people have already been deported. Luis Angel Reyes Savalza, a deportation defense attorney supporting the affected families in LA, said at least one person who was bused to Mexico almost immediately after his arrest was not provided any paperwork or opportunity to contest his deportation. At least two others who were arrested at LA-area carwashes were deported to Tijuana, according to Flor Melendrez, executive director of the Clean Carwash Worker Center. Another person was told by agents to sign a paper if he wanted to visit an attorney, Johansen-Méndez said – but believes he was tricked into signing some sort of voluntary departure paperwork. 'Within hours, he was across the border to Mexico,' she said. Meanwhile, the family members of workers arrested at a clothing factory in downtown LA, in the parking lot at a Home Depot in the suburb of Paramount, and at a carwash in Culver City were desperately seeking answers about their loved ones' whereabouts. Landi, whose husband was arrested on Friday while he worked a shift at the Ambiance Apparel warehouse, said he had reported to work that day as normal. 'We never imagined he will be kidnapped by immigration,' she said at a news conference on Monday, outside the business's gates. The Guardian is not using her surname to protect her family's privacy and safety. 'The day he was kidnapped, my family went to request information about his abduction, but Ice told us he wasn't at the center,' she said. 'However, after much effort and struggle from our lawyer, Ice simply confirmed that he was there.' Families were not allowed to bring their loved ones jackets or medications, lawyers said. Those who were able to confer with attorneys reported that as holding facilities in the city became crowded with immigrants, families were rushed out to detention centers in California's high desert or in Texas. Agents confiscated belongings and provided little food or water, explaining to immigrants that the facilities had not prepared for the influx of detainees. Conditions in Adelanto were deteriorating as well, lawyers said. One of ImmDef's clients reported that meals were provided late, blankets and clothing were scarce, and some people were sleeping on the floor of a day-use recreational room as beds filled up. One client said he witnessed an older man's health dramatically decline after being denied medication for three days. On Sunday, Democratic US representatives Gilbert R Cisneros Jr, Judy Chu and Derek Tran said they were blocked from entering Adelanto. DHS did not respond to a query asking why lawyers and lawmakers have been denied access. With limited access to immigrants in detention, attorneys are also scrambling to understand the scope of the raids, and the extent to which the Department of Homeland Security has violated immigrants' rights. One of the more unusual aspects of the large-scale militarized raids that began last week was that agents from Ice were joined by Customs and Border Protection officers, who are empowered to conduct warrantless stops – but only within 100 miles (160km) of the US border. Johansen-Méndez believes that the government has justified their presence in Los Angeles – which is more than 100 miles from the US-Mexico border – because the city touches the Pacific Ocean, which the administration could be considering as a 'border'. 'They're counting the entire coastline as a port of entry,' said Johansen-Méndez. 'It felt almost like an urban legend that it could be done. But at this point, it's just they're everywhere, literally.' Lawyers from ImmDef and other legal aid and advocacy groups have also been trying to piece together testimonies to better understand how and why immigration agents chose to sweep certain businesses and neighborhoods, and what justifications officers provided when stopping and apprehending people. 'How do they decide who they're going to ask for their papers and arrest, other than racially profiling?' Johansen-Méndez said. 'Did they just ask everyone in the room for their papers or just some people? Did they skip certain people that didn't fit the profile? We can't get that information because we can't talk to everyone.'
Telegraph
13 hours ago
- Telegraph
Lord Hermer handed biggest increase in spending review
Lord Hermer has emerged as one of the big winners from Rachel Reeves's spending review. The budget for the Government's law officers will soar by 5.3 per cent between 2025-26 and 2028-29, at a time when many of his colleagues are facing real-terms cuts. It comes despite the Home Office facing a cut of 1.4 per cent over the same period, putting plans to increase the number of police on the streets at risk. The Attorney General has attracted huge controversy since he was unexpectedly appointed to the post after Labour's election victory last July. During his time as a barrister, he defended Abid Naseer, the Islamist terrorist who plotted an attack on a Manchester shopping centre, and Gerry Adams, the former Sinn Fein leader. The peer was recently forced to apologise after seeming to compare those who want to leave the European Convention on Human Rights with Nazis. He has also angered Cabinet colleagues by taking a long time to sign off legislation to show it complies with human rights and other laws. As Attorney General for England and Wales, Lord Hermer advises the Government on the way its legislation is framed. He also has other powers, such as being able to increase the length of a prison sentence he believes is 'unduly lenient'. The Telegraph reported earlier this week that Lord Hermer declined to review at least three sentences given to a rapist, a paedophile and a terrorist sympathiser. All three had received shorter sentences than Lucy Connolly, who had been jailed for 31 months for a tweet about last year's Southport attacks. But the peer was happy to sign off on her prosecution, even though he had the constitutional power to prevent it. He did not have any say over her sentence. Although Lord Hermer's budget has increased, the actual amount given to the law officers' department is much smaller than some of the larger departments. It is believed some of the rise is down to the fact that the Government has decided to bring more legal work in house rather than outsourcing it to external consultants. Although the number of lawyers will increase, the department is expected to save money on consultants in the long term.
