BBC在线收听下载:哈萨克斯坦最大城市发生大规模抗议

BBC News. Hello, I'm Jerry Smit.

Riot police are out in force in the streets of Kazakhstan's biggest city Almaty after a night of post-election protests. Angry crowds began to gather on Monday evening as word spread about the detention of a poet and musician. Rayhan Demytrie is in Almaty. Footage published on social media showed security services in balaclavas beating protesters and then threatening the person filming it. Then unrest began when a well known musician Rinat Zaitov was detained for criticizing the results of Sunday's presidential election. Several hundred of his supporters gathered outside a police station. The crowd then began an impromptu march until police blocked their way and started beating and arresting them.

The high court in Botswana has decriminalized gay sex, which had been outlawed under the colonial-era penal code and was punishable with up to seven years in prison. They're allowed celebrations in the courtroom in the capital Gaborone. Here's Milton Nkosi. The ruling was a unanimous decision by three judges. As he delivered the landmark verdict, Judge Michael Leburu said human dignity is harmed when minority groups are marginalized. He also said that laws that banned gay sex were discriminatory. The court ruling said that anti-gay laws were in conflict with the country's constitution. Sexual orientation is not a fashion statement. It is an important attribute of one's personality, the judge emphasized. Activists welcomed the decision and said that it is a significant step for gay rights on the African continent.

Amnesty International says it has evidence that Sudanese government forces have continued to commit war crimes in the Darfur region. The rights group says at least forty-five villages have been destroyed. Will Ross reports. Amnesty International says it's used satellite imagery to prove that war crimes are still being committed in Sudan's Darfur region. It's blaming a militia which has been in the news a lot recently, the Rapid Support Forces or RSF. It was set up when President Omar al-Bashir was in power and just last week opened fire on unarmed protesters in the capital Khartoum, killing, doctors say, more than a hundred people. Formerly known as the Janjaweed for years, it's terrorized people in Darfur. Later this month, the UN and the African Union will decide whether to withdraw international peacekeepers from Darfur. Amnesty warns that if they leave, tens of thousands of civilians will be vulnerable to further attacks by the RSF.

At least seven people have drowned after a boat carrying migrants from Turkey to Greece capsized off the Greek island of Lesbos. The Greek coast guard said two of the victims were children and four were women.

BBC news.