Mario and Maxwell case
postponed again
Kenworthy
News Media, 5 February 2015
The court
case of Swazi human rights advocates Mario Masuku and Maxwell Dlamini has been
postponed until March 2015, writes Kenworthy
News Media.
The case
was postponed pending the hearing on the constitutionality of Swaziland’s Terrorism Act
in March, and was referred back to the High Court Registrar, pending
finalisation of this constitutional challenge.
According
to an eyewitness, “the court was filled to capacity with PUDEMO-members and
human rights activists. Mario and Maxwell were brought into court in handcuffs
which were removed only when their case was called. No pictures of them were
allowed as the correctional officers blocked them from view and whisked them away.”
Mario
Masuku is the President of the People’s United Democratic Movement
(PUDEMO), a political party that fights for democracy in Africa’s last
absolute monarchy. Maxwell Dlamini is the Secretary General of
PUDEMO’s youth wing, the Swaziland Youth Congress.
They are
charged under an anti-terrorism bill that Amnesty International has called
“inherently repressive” for having shouted “viva PUDEMO” and criticized the
government in a speech on Mayday last year. If convicted they could serve up to
15 years in prison.
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