The Free Maxwell Dlamini Campaign, which was launched today, urges people and organisations to stand up for human rights and the rule of law in Swaziland by supporting its call to free Maxwell Dlamini.
Maxwell Dlamini, the President of the Swaziland National Union of Students, has been detained, tortured, and forced by Swaziland’s regime to sign a confession that says he was in possession of explosives during the April 12 Swazi Uprising – a movement inspired by similar uprisings in North Africa and The Middle East.
The Free Maxwell Dlamini Campaign demands that Maxwell Dlamini is released unconditionally and that any and all wrongdoings committed by Swaziland’s police forces and security forces towards Maxwell Dlamini and other members of Swaziland’s democratic movement are investigated, and that any perpetrators are brought before a court of law.
Please show your support for Maxwell, as well as for human rights and justice in general, by allowing us to add your name to the list of people and organisations supporting the campaign! (see list here: people and organisations that support the campaign).
Join us in demanding that the Swazi regime free Maxwell Dlamini by:
Calling for the unconditional release of Maxwell Dlamini and his fellow-accused Musa Ngubeni, whom we regard as political prisoners, and demanding an investigation into the allegations of torture of Maxwell Dlamini by Swazi officers, with subsequent charges brought against anyone found guilty of having taken part in such actions, by copying the letter below and sending it to the Swazi regime.
You can also be part of the British National Union of students’ call for the immediate release of Maxwell Dlamini and Musa Ngubeni by writing to Swaziland’s High Commission in London HERE
Copy the letter below and send it to one or all of the following people by e-mail:
I am writing to you concerning Maxwell Dlamini, President of the Swaziland National Union of Students.
On April 2011, he was reportedly tortured while held in detention by Swazi officers in order to make him sign a confession, admitting to having been in possession of explosives, and thus allegedly contravening Sections 8 and 9 of Swaziland’s Explosives Act 4 of 1961.
Maxwell Dlamini had already been pre-emptively detained on April 11, before the so-called April 12 Uprising, but released, only to be re-arrested and charged. There were reports of mass-detentions and violent conduct by police officers and security forces, during the duration of the demonstrations, from April 12 to April 15.
Members of Swaziland’s government and officials had clearly tried to intimidate people in Swaziland into not participating in the demonstrations. Swaziland’s Prime Minister, Barnabas Dlamini, had warned anyone considering doing so that his security forces would “crush the protests”, and police commissioner Isaac Magagula stated, “everyone is a suspect until proven otherwise.”
I believe that Maxwell Dlamini and his fellow-accused, Musa Ngubeni, are political prisoners and are thus unlikely to be given a fair trial.
I therefore call on you to
unconditionally release Maxwell Dlamini and all other political prisoners in Swaziland
open a prompt, impartial and comprehensive investigation into the allegations that Maxwell Dlamini was tortured and ill-treated in custody. While this investigation is ongoing, the officers accused of torture should be suspended from duty.
ensure that anyone found to have tortured and/or ill-treated Maxwell Dlamini are brought to justice in a fair trial and, if they are found guilty, that the sentences imposed are commensurate with the gravity of the crime.
I furthermore demand that the use of torture is condemned at the highest levels of government – especially as Swaziland have ratified ratified the United Nations Convention Against Torture in 2004 and since there have been many previous allegations of torture committed by Swazi officials – and call on you to ensure that safeguards are put in place to prevent torture and ill-treatment in the future.
These safeguards should include ending the practice of de facto unacknowledged detention, banning the admissibility of torture confessions in court proceedings, giving access to independent public monitors to all detention facilities, and creating a truly independent complaints mechanism, so that the torturers can be charged and brought to justice.
I thank you for your consideration in this important matter. I hope you will inform the Free Maxwell Dlamini Campaign (freemaxwelldlamini@gmail.com) on how you intend to deal with the concerns raised in this letter.
President of the Swaziland National Union of Students, Maxwell Dlamini, has been detained, tortured, and forced by Swaziland’s regime to sign a confession that says he was in possession of explosives during the April 12 Swazi Uprising - a movement inspired by similar uprisings in North Africa and The Middle East.
We – The Free Maxwell Dlamini Campaign, together with the people and organisations that support the campaign - demand that Maxwell Dlamini, and his fellow accused Musa Ngubeni, is released unconditionally and that any and all wrongdoings committed by Swaziland’s police forces and security forces towards Maxwell Dlamini and other members of Swaziland’s democratic movement are investigated, and that any perpetrators are brought before a court of law.
Help us secure Maxwell’s release by writing a letter to Swaziland’s authorities. See how HERE
Add your name to the supporters list of the campaign or contact us for further information at: freemaxwelldlamini@gmail.com
We demand that the Swazi regime release detained democracy advocates abducted by police unharmed, says Africa Contact in a Press Release today.
Swaziland's brutal regime is presently holding an undisclosed number of democracy advocates incommunicado and we fear they are being tortured. We strongly urge Swaziland's government to ensure their immediate release. We also urge the international community, including governments, NGOs and all others who believe in the rule of law, to put pressure on Swaziland to release them, and the news media everywhere to draw attention to this injustice, says Danish solidarity movement, Africa Contact, who has worked with several of these organizations for many years.
Amongst those detained are several members of Africa Contact's partner organizations, including Maxwell Dlamini, President of the Swaziland National Union of Students, and Themba Mazuba, National Organizing Secretary of the Swaziland United Democratic Front. Both were arrested on April 10 together with several other members of the democratic movement at a roadblock in Sidvwashini near Swaziland's capital Mbabane, coming back from neighboring South Africa, where they had attended a meeting on preparations of today’s demonstrations.
The whereabouts of Maxwell and Themba and the other detainees is not known at this time, even though lawyers representing them have sought relentlessly for them since their abduction. Their mobile phones have been switched of, even though they had agreed to be in constant communication with members of the democratic movement, usually an indication of police misconduct or mistreatment.
Police and security forces have been clamping down on the perceived organizers of the expected demonstrations later today, April 12, for days now, as well as holding the entire country hostage to innumerable road blocks and more or less random searches, and allegations of torture of those who they bring in for questioning already started to appear days ago.
On many previous occasions, where members of the Swazi democracy movement have been held incommunicado by the police and/or by security forces, there have been numerous credible accusations, backed up by e.g. Amnesty International, of police beating and torturing detainees by e.g. suffocating them with plastic bags. Pius Vilakati, a former student leader in Swaziland who is now living in exile in South Africa, told South African newspapers of his torture at the hands of Swazi police recently, and in the case of PUDEMO member Sipho Jele last year, the police have even been known to murder democracy advocates, wittingly or unwittingly.
As for tomorrow's demonstrations, called by a majority of the democracy-seeking organizations in Swaziland, including the unions, the students' organizations and the Swaziland United Democratic Front, Africa Contact also urges the international community to demand that the Swazi regime refrains from ”crushing the protests,” as Swaziland's Prime Minister, Barnabas Dlamini said they would, and instead allow them to peacefully air their legitimate demands for democracy and socio-economical justice.
Swaziland's constitution declares all members of political parties to be terrorists and its controversial Suppression of Terrorism Act defines terrorism very vaguely, thus in effect allowing virtually anybody to be locked up for any behavior not to the liking of the regime. This gives the police and security forces a virtual carte blanche to apprehend and mistreat whoever they see fit, and the only protection that ordinary Swazis have against such police abuse is the pressure applied by the international community, as well as by constant new coverage of its wrongdoings.
