International News
Ten US Christians may face kidnapping charges
Posted on: Wed February 03, 2010
International Highlights
PORT-AU-PRINCE/WASHINGTON: Ten US Christians held in Haiti faced possible child-trafficking charges on Tuesday over an attempt to smuggle a group of children out of the quake-devastated nation.
In a case that has heightened concerns about the safety of child survivors of the quake, the 10 members of a Christian group who deny any evil intent face further questioning and a court appearance, officials said.
The controversy has overshadowed the ongoing massive international relief effort still struggling to feed, house and care for an estimated one million homeless Haitians. Three weeks after the 7.0-magnitude quake killed 170,000 people, flattening the capital Port-au-Prince, many survivors are still gasping for food, water, shelter, security and medical help.
UN officials said nearly half a million people had fled Port-au-Prince for the countryside since the quake, doubling a previous estimate of 235,000.
The UN s Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said 90 per cent were staying with relatives, but the prices of basic commodities such as rice and sugar were rising and medical centers were short of supplies and equipment.
In Port-au-Prince, interim prosecutor Mazar Fortil said the Christians may face a charge of criminal conspiracy in Haiti as well as possible charges of kidnapping minors and child-trafficking.
The five men and five women with US passports, and two Haitians, were held late Friday when they tried to cross into the Dominican Republic in a bus with 33 children aged between two months and 14 years.
Culture and Communications Minister Marie Laurence Jocelyn Lassegue said a Haitian judge would decide whether to transfer the case to the United States.
A first appearance for the group scheduled Monday was postponed because a Creole language interpreter was not available.
Courtesy : The News