Monday, June 13, 2011

Lindi court puts 100 Ethiopian immigrants in jail

(13th June 2011, Kilwa, Congo) - Kilwa Resident Magistrate’s Court in Lindi region has sentenced 100 Ethiopian immigrants to six months in jail after it found them guilty of entering and staying in country illegally.

Senior resident magistrate Arcardo Chuwa sentenced the aliens after prosecution proved in court beyond reasonable doubts that the immigrants had entered and lived in the country without permits.

Earlier, prosecution had informed the court that the immigrants were arrested on June 5, this year at Singino village near the Mozambican border.

It was claimed in court that the aliens had been abandoned there by people believed to be engaging in human trafficking business who had been contracted to help them escape civil strife in their home country.

In their testimony, the illegal immigrants appealed to the court to exercise restraint in its sentence taking into account that they had been forcibly displaced from their home country.

They said operators of two vessels that brought them to Tanzania through Mombassa, Kenya had abandoned them at Singino village after deceiving them that they had already reached the final destination, which is Mozambique.

Before imposing the jail sentence, the Magistrate ordered them to pay a fine of 20,000/- each, but none of them managed to raise the amount.
Source: ippmedia.

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