How the BBC Jailed the Former Tunisian President....in absentia

I trust the BBC. From the age of 7,  I can recall that every morning started with the Lilliburlero blaring from my father's Grundig radio which announced the start of the BBC World Service News at 7am. In those days, most of the news revolved around war games between the erstwhile USSR and  Reagan's USA. Although most of the content of the news was beyond my understanding at the time, my siblings and I played a game with my dad where we would guess the name of the presenter for the morning. 

Later on in the day, there was the almost ever-constant "This is Chris Bickerton with Focus on Africa" that marked our evenings and announced the start of the BBC flagship programme often presented by the late BBC journalist Chris Bickerton.

From the Cold War to the end of the Cold War, from apartheid South Africa to the end of apartheid South Africa, through famine and strive in the horn of Africa, the BBC was there. 

Aside from a commitment to journalistic integrity, I have  long-associated the BBC with impeccably spoken English language and grammar. That is why, a headline I first heard on the BBC and later saw on their website this past Monday, left me completely perplexed and befuddled:

"BBC News - Tunisia's Ben Ali jailed in absentia for 35 years". 

Former President Ben Ali and wife Leila....."jailed in absentia"
Source: myjoyonline.com

Former President Ben Ali is in exile and clearly not in Tunisia so how could he have been jailed? Also, what does being "jailed in absentia" mean anyway? This headline had me heading for the dictionary definition of jail from the Merriam-Oxford Dictionary online:

²jail

 verb

Definition of JAIL

transitive verb

: to confine in or as if in a jail

Still perturbed, I put the question to the wise people of the Twitterverse.The best response I got was:

elidot  

@ 

@abena_serwaa Perhaps they're speaking figuratively? Or in reference to his soul, which is already in captivity?

So perhaps they were speaking figuratively but the BBC online was sure to correct the headline later on in the day and also remove all traces of the original faux pas:

BBC New: Tunisia's Ben Ali sentenced to jail in absentia

Sadly for the BBC, due to its reputation as an authoritative and trusted news source, the original logic-defying headline has been reproduced on other sites world-wide including on Ghana's Joy FM online as you can see here. 

Nobody is infallible and we all make mistakes, grammatical ones included. But it is fascinating how this grammatical lapse gave the sentence a whole different meaning. Now...can someone tell Joy FM?  

Death of an Iconic Activist and Matriarch: Albertina Sisulu (21 October 1918 - 2 June 2011)

Mrs. Albertina Sisulu, 1918 - 2011
Source: AP via bbc.co.uk 

It was with great sadness that I learnt that on  2 June 2011, Mrs. Albertina Sisulu, wife of the late South African anti-apartheid activist Walter Sisulu, passed away at the age of 92. In the dying days of apartheid in the mid-90s, I had the priviledge of hearing Mrs. Sisulu speak at my school in Swaziland. To a packed auditorium, she addressed the audience with a written speech which she read. I remember it being quite formal and not too inspiring. At the end, she folded the speech, put away her reading glasses and proceeded to completely blow our minds with a powerful, unscripted talk. We were left in awe and spell-bound. Although her exact words are now a distant memory, I do recall a heartfelt, rousing account of her experiences in the fight against institutionalized racism in South Africa. Like many wives of jailed anti-apartheid leaders of the time, circumstances forced her into the role of leadership of the struggle and at the same time being primary caretaker of her family. She rose to the challenges with strength, humility and selflessness. 

From the brief encounter with Mrs. Sisulu that evening, we not only gained insight into this anti-apartheid stalwart and iconic activist but were truly inspired by her words. To quote South African President Jacob Zuma on her passing: 

 "Mama Sisulu has over the decades been a pillar of strength not only for the Sisulu family but also the entire liberation Movement as she reared, counselled, nursed and educated most of the leaders and founders of the democratic South Africa" 

Source: AllAfrica.com

May Mrs. Sisulu's  soul rest in peace and may her legacy continue to be a source of inspiration for future generations of South Africans and Africans.