The
United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention (UNWGAD) has
joined other international bodies in calling for the immediate release from
jail of the Swazi human rights lawyer and writer Thulani Maseko.
Last
month (May 2015), the European Parliament made
a similar declaration, joining human rights organisations across
the globe.
In a statement
issued on Wednesday (10 June 2015), the International Commission of Jurists
(ICJ) welcomed the opinion by The United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary
Detention (UNWGAD) which condemned as ‘arbitrary’ the detention of Maseko and also
called on the Swaziland Government to release him immediately.
UNWGAD acted
after a petition from the ICJ, the law firm Hogan Lovells US LLPS and the
American Bar Association Center for Human Rights.
UNWGAD
affirmed that the Swaziland government’s detention of Maseko was unlawful and
that his rights to freedom of expression, liberty, and to a fair trial had been
violated.
In
addition to his immediate release, the UNWGAD said he should be paid ‘adequate
compensation, enforceable by law’.
Maseko
was jailed for two years for contempt of court along with Bheki Makhubu, editor
of the Nation, a small circulation
monthly comment magazine in Swaziland, where King Mswati III rules as sub-Saharan
Africa’s last absolute monarch, after they wrote and published articles
critical of the Swazi judiciary.
Arnold
Tsunga, Director of ICJ’s Africa Regional Programme, said
in a statement, ‘This opinion by the WGAD is important not only because it
advances Thulani Maseko’s quest for justice, but also because of the message it
sends to the Swazi Government and judiciary that they are responsible for
guaranteeing basic rule of law and human rights principles.
‘We call
on the Government to execute the opinion of the UNWAD and immediately release
Thulani Maseko and afford him reparation for his arbitrary detention.’
In its
opinion taken during its 72nd session between 20 and 29 April 2015,
the UNWGAD determined that the detention of Maseko was arbitrary because it had
been carried out in violation of his right to freedom of opinion and expression
and as a result of numerous fair trial violations, including by judicial
officials.
The
UNWGAD concluded that Chief Justice Michael Ramodibedi and High Court Judge
Mpendulo Simelane, the judges ordering (and re-ordering) Maseko’s detention who
were also involved in the conduct of the trial had not conducted themselves
impartially.
Their
conduct resulted in Maseko’s denial of a fair trial before an independent and
impartial court as required under international law and standards, UNWGAD said.
The
UNWGAD also found violations of a number of other fair trial rights, including
the denial of Maseko’s right to legal assistance.
On 21 May 2015 Members of the
European Parliament meeting in plenary session called
for the immediate release of Maseko and Makhubu. They said, ‘[T]heir
imprisonment relates directly to the legitimate exercise of their right to freedom
of expression.’
They also called for the release of
all political prisoners, including Mario
Masuku, President of the People’s United Democratic Movement (PUDEMO), and
Maxwell Dlamini, Secretary-General of the Swaziland Youth Congress (SWAYOCO).
See also
FREE POLITICAL PRISONERS: EURO MPs
