Blantyre- Malawi (PANA) -- Malawi president Bingu wa Mutharika has pardoned 651 prisoners across the country as one way of marking the festive season, a senior government minister said Saturday. Full text...

Maputo- Mozambique (PANA) -- Prison guards have shot dead a prisoner who tried to escape from Mozambique's maximum security jail in the Maputo suburb of Machava, national news agency, AIM reported Tuesday. Full text...

Abidjan- Côte d'Ivoire (PANA) -- Ivorian Human Rights minister Victorine Wodié has expressed concern over the escape of over 3,500 detainees from the Abidjan detention centre (MACA), saying it poses "serious" threat to the safety of life and property. Full text...

Nouakchott- Mauritania (PANA) -- About 10 inmates, some convicted for murder, have escaped from the central prison here, official sources revealed Wednesday. Full text...

Kinshasa- DR Congo (PANA) -- Thirty-one of the 51 inmates escaped Tuesday from Bunia prison, Ituri district, in Democratic Republic of Congo's eastern province, the United Nations Mission in Congo (MONUC) owned "Okapi" radio reported Wednesday. Full text...

Blantyre- Malawi (PANA) -- Malawi President Bingu wa Mutharika has pardoned 341 prisoners as part of festivities marking the end of the Muslim holy month of Ramadhan. Full text...

Port-Louis Mauritius (PANA) -- Three of the five prisons in Mauritius, the reformatory for boys, the Richelieu prison and the women's prison would soon be equipped with payphones to allow prisoners to communicate with their families, sources indicated here. Full text...

Paris- France (PANA) -- The International Federation of Human Rights Leagues Wednesday urged Tunisian authorities to release about 500 persons detained "for political" reasons in the country's prisons. Full text...

Ouagadougou- Burkina Faso (PANA) -- A mutiny Thursday night at the Ouagadougou central jail (MACO) left one inmate dead, while 102 prisoners escaped, a judicial source disclosed Friday. Full text...

Nairobi- Kenya (PANA) -- The Kenyan government has instituted a probe into the death of five prisoners reportedly beaten by wardens and fellow inmates at the Meru Prison in Central Kenya over the weekend, Vice President Moody Awori said here Wednesday. Full text...

Cape Town- South Africa (PANA) -- The Portfolio Committee on Correctional Services Friday visited Pollsmoor Prison here as part of a probe into allegations of rape and molestation of inmates at the detention facility. Full text...

Port Louis- Mauritius (PANA) -- Thirty-nine Indians imprisoned in Mauritius have written Prime minister Manmohan Singh seeking his intervention for their return home to serve their sentences, Indian diplomatic sources disclosed here. Full text...

Rabat- Morocco (PANA) -- Eight people were injured Tuesday when three prisoners attempted to escape from the Aïn Kaddous prison in Fès, 200 km east of Rabat, the Moroccan capital. Full text...

Rabat- Morocco (PANA) -- King Mohammed VI of Morocco Friday reprieved 1,282 prisoners to mark his 41st birthday anniversary, being celebrated Saturday, the Justice Ministry announced. Full text...

Kampala- Uganda (PANA) -- Tuberculosis causes 40 percent of prisoners' deaths in Uganda's jails, according to a health study conducted in the facilities. Full text...

Kampala- Uganda (PANA) -- Some 400 inmates at Nyamushekyera prison in western Uganda went on strike last week to protest the torture of a prisoner by warders, local press reports indicated Monday. Full text...

Bujumbura- Burundi (PANA) -- Heavily armed Burundi gendarmes injured at least four inmates during a Friday dawn assault to put down a three-week mutiny inside Bujumbura's Mpimba central prison, the country's largest penitentiary centre. Full text...

Port Louis- Mauritius (PANA) -- An 56-year old Indian, Massood Siddique, who was serving a 10-year term since 2000 for drug trafficking was found dead in the courtyard of the Central Prison in Beau Bassin, about 20 km south of Port Louis. Full text...

Yaounde- Cameroon (PANA) -- Cameroonian authorities plan to build a new prison in Yaounde a bid to reduce overcrowding in the country's detention centres. Full text...

Port Louis- Mauritius (PANA) -- A court in Port Louis on Wednesday handed a ten-year prison sentence to a South African national Anneline Mouton (29) after finding her guilty of importing 647,6 grams of heroin into the Indian Ocean island nation. Full text...

Rabat- Morocco (PANA) -- The Moroccan consultative group on human rights (CCDH) on Monday alarmed of "frightening" overcrowding of prisons in Morocco with an average of 1. Full text...

Tripoli- Libya (PANA) -- A total of 28 prisoners were released Thursday in Tripoli following pardon by the Supreme Council of Jurisdictions, according to the Kadhafi International Foundation for Charity Association (GDIFCA). Full text...

Maputo- Mozambique (PANA) -- A man described by the Mozambican police as "a dangerous criminal" has escaped from custody by jumping from the window of a courtroom in the central city of Beira, national news agency, AIM reported Tuesday. Full text...

Maputo- Mozambique (PANA) -- Mozambican police Tuesday confirmed the re-arrest of the country's convicted murderer Anibal dos Santos Junior alias Anibalzinho, who escaped from the Maputo top security prison 9 May. Full text...

Maputo- Mozambique (PANA) -- A police dog unit is back on guard duty at Maputo's top security prison following the recent escape of Anibal dos Santos Junior "Anibalzinho," who was serving term for the 2000 murder of Mozambican journalist Carlos Cardoso. Full text...

Maputo- Mozambique (PANA) -- Security has been stepped up at Maputo's top security prison following the 9 May escape of Anibal dos Santos Junior alias "Anibalzinho," convicted for the 2000 murder of Mozambican journalist Carlos Cardoso, the police said. Full text...

Maputo- Mozambique (PANA) -- Security has been stepped up at Maputo's top security prison following the 9 May escape of Anibal dos Santos Junior alias "Anibalzinho," convicted for the 2000 murder of Mozambican journalist Carlos Cardoso, the police said. Full text...

Maputo- Mozambique (PANA) -- President Joaquim Chissano has directed Mozambican police to re-arrest convicted murderer Anibal dos Santos Junior, alias "Anibalzinho," who escaped from the Maputo maximum security prison Sunday, national news agency, AIM reported Tuesday. Full text...

Johannesburg- South Africa (PANA) -- As South Africa celebrates 10 years of democracy, a local human rights group has appealed to President Thabo Mbeki to consider granting a ten-month amnesty to prisoners across the board and the release of petty offenders. Full text...

Kumasi- Ghana (PANA) -- The Ghanaian government said Wednesday that it has allocated US$25 million to improve prison services, including prison conditions. Full text...

Kigali- Rwanda (PANA) -- Rwandan judicial authorities on Tuesday started releasing 4,000 out of the 12,000 prisoners in preventive detention at the Kigali and Kibungo prisons. Full text...

Kampala- Uganda (PANA) -- In a bid to decongest prisons in Uganda with a huge backlog of cases pending trial, Chief Justice Benjamin Odoki has directed all magistrate courts to begin issuing community service sentences as alternative to imprisonment. Full text...

Mbabane- Swaziland (PANA) -- Overcrowding in Swazi prisons has resulted in the death of 13 prisoners in the last two months, according to a report by Operations and Management Sergeant Buyile Vilakati. Full text...

Lagos- Nigeria (PANA) -- Nigeria has raised a committee to determine the fate of more than 400 prisoners awaiting execution, as well as decongest the 245 prisons across the country. Full text...

Niamey- Niger (PANA) -- Niger plans to introduce community work in the near future as an alternative to imprisonment for minor offenders, according to director of prisons at the Justice and Human Rights Ministry in Niamey. Full text...

Harare- Zimbabwe (PANA) -- In a controversial move likely to set Zimbabwe on a collision course with international human rights organisations, the government here said Tuesday it would shortly begin hiring out prisoners to newly resettled farmers facing labour shortages. Full text...

Moroni- Comoros (PANA) -- Former Comoran tax department director Mohamed Djounaid and his counterpart of customs Raoul Delapyre were released Saturday morning on bail, informed sources told PANA in Moroni. Full text...

Cape Town- South Africa (PANA) -- The South African Prisoners Organisation for Human Rights (SAPOHR) on Friday called on the government to grant amnesty to prisoners as part of the ten-year celebrations of South Africa's democracy. Full text...

Kampala- Uganda (PANA) -- The number of prisoners on death row in Uganda has risen to 500 over the past three years, an official said Tuesday. Full text...

Maputo- Mozambique (PANA) -- Three prisoners escaped Monday from Mozambique's Maputo top security jail, while a fourth inmate who also tried to flee was shot on the leg by guards, national news agency, AIM reported. Full text...

Maputo- Mozambique (PANA) -- Far from being a place where criminals are reformed, Maputo's top security prison is a mix of physical and sexual violence that hardens the criminal nature of inmates, reports the Sunday paper "Domingo". Full text...

Tripoli- Libya (PANA) -- Members of the Libyan Human Rights Association have deplored the conditions facing women inmates at the Jedaida prison east of Tripoli. Full text...

Cape Town- South Africa (PANA) -- The Law Society of South Africa (LSSA) inspected several prisons across the country on Wednesday and Thursday as part of the 16-day campaign to prevent violence against women and children. Full text...

Maputo- Mozambique (PANA) -- Mozambique's Attorney General Joaquim Madeira has condemned as illegal the restrictions placed on three men serving jail sentences for the 2000 assassination of journalist Carlos Cardoso. Full text...

Maputo- Mozambique (PANA) -- Starving prisoners in the northern Mozambican town of Monapo have been eating wild fruits and snakes to keep alive, local press accounts affirmed Friday, saying at least two prisoners had consequently died. Full text...

Tripoli- Libya (PANA) -- As Libya celebrates the Muslim festival of Aid Al Fitr, marking the end of the month-long Ramadan, the Supreme Council of Judicial Bodies in Libya has pardoned 686 prisoners. Full text...

Saint-Denis- Reunion (PANA) -- Families of two Reunion nationals sentenced respectively to 12 and 20 years in prison in Mauritius for drug-related offences, have expressed the hope that the convicts could be allowed back home under Mauritian new law on the repatriation of foreign prisoners. Full text...

Addis Ababa- Ethiopia (PANA) -- The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) has underscored the need for improving the management of detention centres and the living conditions of persons deprived of freedom in Ethiopia. Full text...

Port-Louis- Mauritius (PANA) -- The Mauritian parliament has passed a law on the repatriation of foreigners prisoners to their home countries, in line with the July 1985 Strasbourg Convention, Prime Minister Paul Berenger has said. Full text...

Nairobi- Kenya (PANA) -- The Kenyan Prisons Department is set to undergo major reforms which will include the completion of stalled projects, Vice President Moody Awori said on Wednesday. Full text...