Tripoli, Libya (PANA) – A massive jail break has taken place at the Sebha correctional facility, 800 kilometres south of Tripoli, the Libyan capital, according to an official spokesperson of the local council, Abobker Hanza, who did not specify when the incident took place. Full text...

Khartoum, Sudan (PANA) - The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said it has facilitated the release and handover of four Sudanese soldiers held by a Darfur rebel faction, the Sudan Liberation Army - Ali Karbino (SLA-AK). Full text...

Melrose, Mauritius (PANA) - A modern high security prison that can accommodate a thousand prisoners is under construction in Melrose, central Mauritius, according to the Commissioner of Prisons, Dr. Jean Bruneau. Full text...

Tripoli Libya (PANA) - Libyan authorities are to close five prisons in Misrata, 200km east of the capital city of Tripoli, and their inmates transferred to the new Remand Centre in the city. Full text...

Douala, Cameroon (PANA) – Three Cameroonian prison guards have been jailed seven years each for negligent in the escape of the detained Mayor of Massock-Songloulou, Paul Hiol, from hospital bed. Full text...

Nairobi, Kenya (PANA) - Sudanese teacher and activist Jalila Khamis Koko, will no longer face the death penalty after some of the charges against her were dropped Tuesday, global human rights body Amnesty International said Wednesday. Full text...

Khartoum, Sudan (PANA) - About 31 inmates have escaped from a regional prison in Sudan's restive region of Darfur, following a clash with the police Tuesday. Full text...

Khartoum, Sudan (PANA) – The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) Wednesday facilitated the repatriation of 19 South Sudanese prisoners of war released by the Sudanese government. Full text...

Blantyre, Malawi (PANA) - All 34 prisoners at the Zomba Central Prison in Malawi, who were pardoned by President Joyce Banda as part of the country's 48th independence anniversary, have been released, despite the riots at the prison earlier in the day. Full text...

Blantyre, Malawi (PANA) - Prisoners serving life sentences for various charges, including murder, at the Zomba Central Prison in the eastern city of Zomba, some 90 kilometres east of Malawi's commercial capital Blantyre, ran riot Sunday protesting the pardon of two prisoners. Full text...

Blantyre, Malawi (PANA) - As part of ceremonies marking Malawi's 48 years of independence from Great Britain, President Joyce Banda has pardoned 377 prisoners. Full text...

Tripoli, Libya (PANA) - Libya has appealed for clemency for its citizens in prison in other countries, saying the (prisoners) should granted amnesty on humanitarian grounds. Full text...

Khartoum, Sudan (PANA) – The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said on Thursday that it helped with the repatriation of 13 Sudanese Prisoners of War (POWs) to Khartoum from Juba, the South Sudanese capital, during the recent clashes on the joint border area of Higlig. Full text...

Dakar, Senegal (PANA) – Newly-elected Senegalese president Macky Sall offered a rare independence day "gift" to the Senegalese when he pardoned 1,009 prisoners across the country, according to a presidency press release obtained by PANA Tuesday. Full text...

Abuja, Nigeria (PANA) - Nigeria's President Goodluck Jonathan said here Tuesday that Full text...

Cape Coast, Ghana (PANA) - Inmates of Ghana’s prisons will vote in the next presidential and parliamentary elections scheduled for December next year, President John Evans Atta Mills announced on Tuesday. Full text...

Bamako, Mali (PANA) - Mali's prisoner population has grown 10 times in 50 years of independence, reaching more than 5,000 inmates in 2011, the Minister of Justice, Maharafa Traoré, said Tuesday in Bamako at the opening session of the retreat on prison administration. Full text...

Nouakchott, Mauritania (PANA) - Two opposition Members of Parliament in Mauritania have, in two oral questions to the Justice Minister, expressed deep concern about the general situation in the country's prisons, PANA learnt here Tuesday from an official source. Full text...

Lomé, Togo (PANA) – The Togolese government has released 10 members of the group of 31 persons jailed for their part in an alleged 2009 coup attempt against president Faure Essozimna Gnassingbé, according to the general prosecutor to the Court of Appeal of Lomé, the capital. Full text...

Rabat, Morocco (PANA) - King Mohammed VI of Morocco on Thursday granted pardon to 190 detainees, including political prisoners, in response to recommendations by the National Council for Human Rights (CNDH), PANA learned from official sources in Rabat. Full text...

Lusaka, Zambia (PANA) - Zambian President Rupiah Banda has ordered the immediate release of 574 prisoners country-wide. Full text...

Tripoli, Libya (PANA) - Libya Wednesday freed the last batch of 110 prisoners of the Libyan Islamic Fighting Group, including three of the group leaders, from the Abu Slim prisons in Tripoli, the Libyan capital. Full text...

Kumasi, Ghana (PANA) – A prisoner in Ghana's second largest city, Kumasi, who on Monday threatened to commit suicide unless the authorities agreed to transferred him to the medium security prison in Nsawam, just outside the capital, Accra, was eventually persuaded to rescind his decision. Full text...

Dar es Salaam, Tanzania (PANA) - In marking Tanzania's 49th independence anniversary Thursday, President Jakaya Kikwete has paroled 3,563 prisoners, according to an official statement issued by the Home Affairs ministry. Full text...

Nouakchott- Mauritania (PANA) -- The Mauritanian Justice minister, Abidine Ould E l Kheir, has vowed to improve conditions in the country's prisons and accelerate procedures for equitable trial for everybody. Full text...

Banjul- Gambia (PANA) -- The Nigerian High Commissioner to The Gambia, Esther Joh n Audu, has described human trafficking, drug trafficking and the act of deceivi n g people, otherwise called 419, as negative attitudes which cannot be tolerated i n any society. Full text...

Nouakchott- Mauritania (PANA) -- A delegation of the African Human Rights Commission (CADHP) on Monday urged the Mauritanian authorities to take measures to de-congest prisons in the country. Full text...

Nairobi- Kenya (PANA) -- Kenyan President Mwai Kibaki Monday commuted the sentenc es of all death row prisoners in the country to life behind bars. Full text...

Banjul- Gambia (PANA) -- David Fulton, a British national currently serving a one -year jail term with his wife for seditious publication, has again been convicte d , this time for forgery. Full text...

Cairo- Egypt (PANA) -- In a shocking turn of events, an Egyptian court of appeal Tuesday overturned an earlier ruling and sentenced the owner of a ferry that san k in 2006, killing more than 1,000 people, to seven years in prison for involunta r y manslaughter. Full text...

Addis Ababa- Ethiopia (PANA) -- Ethiopia's famous pop star, Teddy Afro, is set to leave jail within five months following an Ethiopian Supreme Court judge decision to reduce his six-year long sentence to two years on appeal, PANA reports from here Wednesday. Full text...

Saint-Denis- Reunion (PANA) -- A 21-year-old inmate was stabbed to death in a vio lent fight involving some 40 detainees Thursday afternoon at the central prison o f Port, 18 km from the Reunion capital Saint-Denis, a judicial source told PANA. Full text...

Maputo- Mozambique (PANA) -- Between six and 10 prisoners escaped from a cell in a police station in the southern Mozambican city of Matola on the night of 25 De c ember, according to a report in the independent daily, O Pais. Full text...

Rabat- Morocco (PANA) -- Morocco has the largest number of detained Spanish natio nals in its prisons, followed by Brazil and Peru, the Moroccan media said Wednes d ay. Full text...

Douala- Cameroon (PANA) -- A jail break by 13 imates of the Bamenda prison in nor th-west Cameroon last Sunday night during a downpour, has claimed the life of on e fugitive, official sources told PANA on Tuesday. Full text...

Banjul- Gambia (PANA) -- President Yahya Jammeh has pardoned 14 foreigners serving jail sentences in Gambia and urged The Gambia Immigration department to deport all 14 men to their various countries. Full text...

Tripoli- Libya (PANA) -- No fewer than 3,079 prisoners have been granted amnesty to mark the 39th anniversary of the 1 September revolution in Libya, the justice ministry said. Full text...

Bujumbura- Burundi (PANA) -- A police officer was seriously wounded Friday as pri son authorities searched for firearms, narcotics and cellphones held illegally b y prisoners in a Burundi penal home, according to the pro-government Burundi Pres s Agency (BPA) here. Full text...

Maputo- Mozambique (PANA) -- Paulo Estevao, otherwise called Dangerman, one of th e six men acquitted 1 July in the case of the attempted murder of popular Mozamb i can lawyer Albano Silva, is back in jail, this time, for threatening to blow up a n aircraft. Full text...

Kinshasa- DR Congo (PANA) -- The Congolese NGO, Journalistes en Danger (JED), an organisation to protect journalists, said in a press release Monday that two jou r nalists, who had written "offensive" articles against President Joseph Kabila, had been t ransferred to the central prison here. Full text...

Maputo- Mozambique (PANA) -- The police commander in the central Mozambican distr ict of Marromeu, Alexandre Mugela, has admitted that prisoners have broken out o f the local jail, but did tell reporters how many potentially dangerous men were o n the loose. Full text...

Rabat- Morocco (PANA) -- Moroccan justice minister, Abdelwahed Radi, said on Monday in Rabat that his department needed an additional budget of 110 million euros to solve the problem of overcrowding in the country's prisons. Full text...

Cape Town- South Africa (PANA) -- The Southern Africa Litigation Centre (SALC) has written to the African Commission for Human and Peoples' Rights to request a visit to Malawi prisons by the Special Rapporteur for Prisons and Conditions of Detention in Africa, according to Nicole Fritz, Executive Director of SALC. Full text...

Abuja- Nigeria (PANA) -- Inmates in Nigerian prisons will get richer rations as the federal cabinet has approved an increase in the cost of their feeding from the current 150 naira (US$1. Full text...

Accra- Ghana (PANA) – The Judicial Service of Ghan-a is worried about serious congestion and over population in prisons throughout the country, saying they are serious human and social problems that need urgent attention by stakeholders in the criminal justice system. Full text...

Nairobi- Kenya (PANA) -- Kenya has unveiled a new scheme of service for prisons staff in a move aimed at attracting highly skilled labour force, under the government's rapid results initiative to improve conditions in the country's dilapidated corrective institutions. Full text...

Nouakchott- Mauritania (PANA) – A riot broke out a-t the Nouakchott main prison Monday night but the situation was brought back to normal after the intervention of the elite squad from the national Guard, according to judicial sources Tuesday. Full text...

Freetown- Sierra Leone (PANA) -- The United Nations Secretary-General special representative for Sierra Leone, Victor Angello, has described as "appalling" conditions of the country's prisons, and encouraged the Sierra Leonen government to improve prisoners' rights. Full text...

Nairobi- Kenya (PANA) -- Kenya is to strength recently introduced non-custodial sentence for petty offenders to speed up prison decongestion, Vice-President Moody Awori, said here Thursday. Full text...

Nouakchott- Mauritania (PANA) – There is no US det-ention centre in Mauritania, the national news agency reported here Thursday, quoting sources at the Foreign Ministry. Full text...