Christian pastor arrested for making ‘homophobic statements’

A Christian pastor who was arrested after he preached from the Bible said yesterday he had been treated ‘shamefully’.

John Sherwood, 71, was led away in handcuffs, questioned in a police station and held overnight after being accused of making homophobic comments outside Uxbridge Station in west London.

The grandfather claimed he was left bruised after police pulled him from a mini-stepladder he was using and cuffed his hands behind his back.

Police said they had received complaints the man had been making ‘allegedly homophobic comments’ and arrested him under the Public Order Act, which can be used under the vague proviso that someone is using ‘abusive or insulting words’ that cause ‘harm’ to someone else.  He was later released without charge.

Mr Sherwood, a pastor for 35 years, said: ‘I wasn’t making any homophobic comments, I was just defining marriage as a relationship between a man and a woman. I was only saying what the Bible says – I wasn’t wanting to hurt anyone or cause offence.

‘I was doing what my job description says, which is to preach the gospel in open air as well as in a church building.

‘When the police approached me, I explained that I was exercising my religious liberty and my conscience. I was forcibly pulled down from the steps and suffered some injury to my wrist and to my elbow. I do believe I was treated shamefully. It should never have happened.’

Mr Sherwood, who preaches at an independent evangelical church in north London, was arrested under the Public Order Act for allegedly causing alarm or distress. He was released without charge but a file has now been passed to the Crown Prosecution Service for review.

The Metropolitan Police said a member of the public flagged down patrol officers and alleged Mr Sherwood had made homophobic comments.

Mobile phone footage of Friday’s arrest shows Mr Sherwood standing on the stepladder with a Bible in his hand outside a Tube station in Uxbridge, west London. Officers can be heard telling him to get off his steps before they appear to grasp his hands and pull him down.

Onlookers can be heard shouting, ‘He’s an elderly man – take it easy with him’, before officers put Mr Sherwood in handcuffs and take him to a police car.

Mr Sherwood said officers grilled him over his attitude to gay people. He was even asked what he would do if his children were gay. The married father-of-two said: ‘The question was irrelevant to the allegation against me. I said I would seek to bring them to Christ, but of course I would love them no matter what, because they’re my children.’

Andrea Williams, of campaign group Christian Concern, said police needed greater understanding of the law surrounding freedom of speech and religion.

She added: ‘There is an idea that if people are offended you should arrest someone, but in this country we also have freedom of speech.’

A Met Police spokesman said its directorate of professional standards had assessed video footage of Mr Sherwood’s arrest and had found no evidence of misconduct by officers.

A statement posted to a Christian Facebook his supporters read: ‘Whilst he was preaching, he expounded the final verses of Genesis 1, declaring that God’s purpose in creating mankind was to set human beings in families, headed by a father and a mother, not by two fathers, or by two mothers.

‘The distinction within mankind of just two genders, male and female, made in the image of God, constitutes the essence of God’s created order.’

Earlier in the footage, filmed on Friday, two officers can be seen urging the man to step down from the footstool telling him: ‘You’re under arrest.’

The pastor repeatedly refuses, prompting both officers to take him by the hands and guide him down from the steps.

Bible passages preacher’s supporters claim he referred to

God ‘created two genders’ –  

‘So God created mankind in his own image… male and female he created them.’

Genesis 1

Everyone ‘has freedom to preach’ –  

‘For I have not hesitated to proclaim to you the whole will of God.’

Acts 20:27

New Chadian military government victimizing the media as chaos reigns

The new Chadian military government appears to have turned its sights on journalists and cracking down heavily on them.

DNT’s contact in N’Djamena reports that “journalist are being arrested, whipped down and jailed for no reason.” He further reports that he “lost some friends during yesterday’s protests” but has yet to report back as to whether those friends were journalists or not.

Street protests by the youth has erupted in the central African nation following the installing of a new military government headed by the son of the deceased president Idriss Deby who died from injuries sustained on the frontlines as his government battled rebels.

The military government has suspended the country’s constitution and the National Assembly promising elections in 18 months. No one doubts that Mahamat Idriss Deby would put down his military uniform and run for president.

Meanwhile the protests are getting deadly by the day.

Yesterday alone more than 10 young demonstrators were fired upon with live ammunitions during the demonstrations including 9 young people and a woman in the city of Ndjamena. There was one casualty – a young man killed – in the economic capital which is Moundou.

    

One journalist was kidnapped in the province of Doba and his whereabouts is still unknown. This morning another youngster was shot with live ammunition and died later from injuries sustained.

The general population along with all the opposition parties have embarked on a peaceful protest to oppose France’s interference in Chadian affairs, as well as the transitional military council led by the son of former president Idriss Deby as they see it as the monarchization of power.

Experts believe France is simply reaping its investment after having rumored to have invested over $500 million including personal monies of up to $10 million per vote to keep Chadian Moussa Faki Mahamat at the helm of affairs at the African Union Commission, the body that should be front and center in resolving such a conflict.

Stay tuned to DNT for more updates on this developing conflict in Chad.

DNT News from Correspondence reports

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‘We will defend ourselves to the very end’: Taiwan minister’s vow as China ‘prepares final assault’

Joseph Wu said China had "been conducting misinformation campaigns" against Taiwan and had increased their grey zone activities.

China is “preparing for its final military assault” on Taiwan, the island’s foreign minister has told Sky News, as he vowed to “defend ourselves to the very end”.

In an exclusive interview, Joseph Wu said that China had “been conducting misinformation campaigns, hybrid warfare, and recently they have increased their grey zone activities against Taiwan“.

“And all these seem to be preparing for their final military assault against Taiwan,” he added.

“This is our country, this is our people and this is our way of life. We will defend ourselves to the very end.

“Taiwan happens to be on the frontline of China’s expansion of its authoritarian order. And if Taiwan is taken by China, I think the consequences will be global.”

Mr Wu also praised the UK’s decision to send the HMS Queen Elizabeth, the Royal Navy’s new aircraft carrier, to the region.

“For the UK to think about sending military surface ships to this part of the world, to show that the UK cares, is also welcomed,” he said.

Chinese military aircraft have been making almost daily incursions into Taiwan’s air identification defence zone recently, with April being a record month.

This week, it also sent its Liaoning aircraft carrier on a course to the east of Taiwan – the second such manoeuvre in recent weeks.

Taiwan says it is an independent country, with its own government, military and elections.

China insists the island is part of its territory and has vowed to claim it by force if necessary or if the territory “secedes” from China.

At a recent press briefing in Beijing, Wang Wenbin, a spokesperson for China’s ministry of foreign affairs, said: “China must and will be reunified.

“We are willing to do our utmost to strive for the prospect of peaceful reunification, but will never leave any room for any forms of ‘Taiwan independence’ secessionist activities.”

Mr Wu insisted that formal independence was not his government’s intention – merely the preservation of the currently ambiguous status quo.

Taiwan is not recognised as a state by many countries, including the US and UK, but still maintains unofficial relations with them.

“Listen to the policy statements of this government, including the president (Tsai Ing-wen) herself,” he told Sky News.

“We are trying to safeguard the status quo that Taiwan is a free and democratic country, that Taiwan is not run by China.”

There has been an increase in Chinese military pressure since September last year. Mr Wu suggested this was because of domestic weakness in China.

“Very often an authoritarian state experiencing difficulties will actively create a crisis externally to divert domestic attention,” he said.

“This is the situation we see right now. If you look at the economic situation of China, since the trade war between the United States and China – China suffered. Growth is declining.

“And last year, when COVID was rampaging the rest of the world, China suffered tremendously as well.

“Under these sort of circumstances, it’s quite natural for an authoritarian country to think about creating its own historical legacy.

“Taiwan is a historical legacy and we are watching very carefully.”

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GIJ leads global conversation on Twitter and the African future

The Directorate of Research, Innovation and Development (DRID) of the Ghana Institute of Journalism (GIJ) is organizing a panel discussion on the topic; “Twitter and the African Future: Rethinking Digital opportunities and challenges.”

The discussion is scheduled to happen on Friday, April 30, 2021 at 12noon, via Zoom. Four speakers will be empanelled from diverse technological backgrounds and African Studies to speak on the subject.

The panelists include; Dr. Ezer Osei Yeboah-Boateng, Dean Faculty of Computing & Information Systems (FoCIS) at the Ghana Communication Technology University, and Foster Akugri, Founder & President of the Hacklab Foundation (Focal Twitter Partner in Ghana).

The rest are Maximus Ametorgah, Digital Marketing Professional & Tech Analyst, and Dr. Emmanuel Asonye Africana Studies, University of New Mexico, USA.

Background

Twitter recently announced Ghana as the headquarters for its Africa base. The announcement was received with much enthusiasm by Ghanaians. It also attracted great attention on the continent and globally.

It is on the back of this, that the state premier communications university – GIJ, organizes this discussion to move the talk beyond the euphoria to ponder what this big announcement holds for Ghana and the continent.

The discussion does not only look at the prospects of the project, it will also contemplate the implications for democracy and development.

Meanwhile, the institute invites the general public to participate in this important forum on zoom via;

Zoom Meeting ID: 87641409907

Passcode: 1560021

The author, James Avedzi is a student of the Ghana Institute of Journalism

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More than 1.3m expiring vaccines in DRC to be re-distributed to Ghana, 5 others

More than 1.3 million AstraZeneca vaccines delivered to the Democratic Republic of Congo on March 4, 2021, are to be re-distributed to Ghana and five other African countries.

The Central African country is the second largest country in Africa (by area) and 11th in the world, with a population of 86.79 million (World Bank, 2019).

But it has only been able to administer a mere 400,000 of the 1.7 million it received.

The remaining 1.3 million doses will expire next month if unused.

UNICEF is currently leading the largest vaccine procurement and supply operation ever on behalf of the global COVAX facility, to deliver Covid-19 vaccines across Africa.

But it is faced with challenges. “Only 26 percent of vaccines delivered to Western and Southern African countries have been administered,” said, UNICEF’s regional Advisor for Health Systems Strengthening for West and Central Africa, Susie Villeneuve.

“This is something we have to handle carefully to see why systems are not performing to at least use the vaccines that the countries are receiving.”

She gave a tall list of problems hindering the rollout and procurement of the vaccines.

“UNICEF and partners are really pleased to see that vaccination activities are being rolled out since early March this year, in Western and Central Africa and elsewhere. However, it is worth noting that implementation is negatively impacted by issues hindering efforts to achieve the coverage of the first 20 percent priority population group,” she told a gathering of public health experts on Monday, at the 11th Africa Vaccination Week celebration being held in Ghana.

The region’s major constraint on supply availability, she says is leading to little visibility on future shipment plans.

“No visibility in shipment plan for the second allocation for instance to ensure continuity of vaccination campaign”.

Safety

Safety signals on some Covid vaccines – AstraZeneca and Johnson & Johnson were another concern for her. She says the news from Europe, the Americas and other places were of concern.

Funding

Funding is another issue affecting vaccine rollout. Operation costs, she said was impeding the smooth rollout

“This is the reality in several African countries. Operation issues to identify priority groups and effectively vaccinate these groups is something we’re experiencing a lot. So limited number of vaccination sites leading to poor availability of early vaccines at a centralized level. It is something countries are working on to make sure we can address this”.

The poor performance of vaccination activities in most countries implies the implementation of innovation of vaccination strategies to ensure equity in the distribution of the vaccines.

Another issue is the short shelf life of AstraZeneca vaccines so far distributed to countries and this requires good preparation and implementation strategy.

“So for this, there is the ongoing process to re-distribute 1.3 million doses from DRC out of the 1.7 million they received. The distribution processes have been undertaken because the doses they received are expiring on the 24th of June this year. So we are in the process of reallocating to other countries in Africa and the possible recipients so far but to be confirmed are; Ghana, Senegal, Togo, Angola, Madagascar and Comoros”.

UNICEF is also concerned about vaccine hesitancy. Villeneuve said, despite all the effort through advocacy in risk communication and community engagement, countries are still refusing or still resisting vaccines.

To address the challenges UNICEF says it will continue to advocate with donors and manufacturers to ensure the availability of vaccines and to ensure equitable distribution.

On Monday, Ghana’s Health Minister, Kwaku Agyeman-Manu announced that President Akufo-Addo himself is leading a diplomatic effort to ensure that countries with unused vaccines, share them with Ghana which has achieved more than 90 per cent of coverage in the administration of available vaccines.

Ghanaians who took their first jabs of the AstraZeneca vaccines on the second of March were due to take their second doses on Tuesday, April, 27.

However the Ghana Health Service announced a four-week extension of that, bringing the window to 12 weeks, the maximum interval recommended between the first and second jabs.

But the Health Ministry has asked Ghanaians not to panic, assuring that efforts to bring in more vaccines will soon yield results.

Ghana plans to vaccinate at least 20 million of its 31 million population, in a bid to achieve population immunity.

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