Guinea tries 58 over attack on Ebola outreach mission

Guinea has put 58 people on trial over an attack on Ebola outreach workers by a mob wielding machetes, a judicial source said on Friday. The defendants are accused of wounding several government workers and staff from the global medical aid agency Medecins sans Frontieres (MSF) with the knives as well as assaulting them with sticks and stones. "The 58 people were referred to court for assault and battery, destruction of public buildings, public insults and threats, and rebellion," the source said.
The group, who have been on trial since Monday in the western town of Forecariah, were arrested after the attack in early January on the nearby island of Kaback. A judicial source in Forecariah told AFP they face six months each in jail if convicted, with verdicts expected next week. Guinea and its neighbours Sierra Leone and Liberia have registered more than 9,000 deaths since the epidemic flared up in December 2013, according to figures released Friday by the World Health Organisation.