Oct 31, 2012 | News
The ICJ welcomed the judgment issued on 24 October 2012 by the Zimbabwe High Court in favour of Farai Maguwu, a human rights defender and director of the Centre for Research and Development.
In September 2011, members of the Central Intelligence Organisation (CIO) confiscated a number of Farai Maguwu’s possessions, including cash, a laptop computer, a camera, and bank cards, at the Harare International Airport while he was about to depart for a human rights conference in Ireland.
The ICJ is concerned that the seizure of property may have been undertaken as an attack on Farai Maguwu for his legitimate human rights work.
According to media reports, Hon. Justice Mathonsi ordered, “the seizure of the applicant’s property by the State agents…be and is hereby declared wrongful, unlawful and unjustified”.
Since the confiscation of his property by the CIO over a year ago, no charges had been brought against Mr Maguwu, neither was his property returned.
Justice Mathonsi affirmed that deprivation of property must only be done in accordance with due process of law. Farai Maguwu had not been advised of the legal basis or reasons for the seizure of his property.
“We congratulate the judiciary of Zimbabwe for this judgment which adheres to the principles of the rule of law, justice and respect for human rights. Furthermore, it is a reminder to State agents that in carrying out their duties they ought to do so within the parameters of the rule of law,” commented Martin Masiga, Deputy Director of the ICJ Africa Regional Programme.
The ICJ calls on the Zimbabwean judiciary to continue to uphold the rule of law and fulfil their responsibility in protecting human rights in Zimbabwe.
Contact:
Martin Masiga, Deputy Director, ICJ Africa Regional Programme, t: +27 11 02482
Oct 30, 2012 | News
The ICJ today expressed its concern at disciplinary sanctions and threats of criminal prosecution against Judge Aliya Zhumasheva of the Kachirsk District Court of Pavlodar Region in Kazakhstan.
Oct 29, 2012 | Events
On 31 October the ICJ is co-sponsoring a side event with the Permanent Mission of France on “Respect the right not to be disappeared – Universal accession and implementation of the Convention against disappearances”.
This parallel event to the session of the Committee on Enforced Disappearance and the Working Group on Enforced and Involuntary Disappearances will take place at the Palais des Nations in Geneva, Room XII, from 1 to 3 PM (13.00-15.00).
UN-ICAED enforced disappearances – Event-2012
Oct 22, 2012 | Events
The ICJ is holding a workshop on access to justice and the right to fair trial from 22 to 24 October in Juba, South Sudan.
The workshop, organized in collaboration with the South Sudan Law Society, is aimed at judges, prosecutors, lawyers, and legal staff of the Ministry of Justice. It covers inter alia general fair trial standards, the role of the prosecutor and an independent legal profession, and specific standards applicable to arrest, pre-trial detention and trial proceedings. An ICJ delegation consisting of Judge Charles Mkandawire (ICJ Commissioner and Registrar of the SADC Tribunal), President Judge Anaclet Chipeta (High Court of Malawi), former Judge Thomas Masuku (High Court of Swaziland), Arnold Tsunga (ICJ Africa Regional Programme Director) and Ilaria Vena (CIJL Associate Legal Adviser) lead the training and debate sessions, together with representatives of the South Sudan Law Society.
SouthSudan-WorkshopFairTrial-Agenda-October2012 (download the agenda of the workshop)
Oct 15, 2012 | Events
The ICJ, OSCE and Group 484 are holding a training on migration and international human rights law starting on Tuesday 16 October in Kladovo (Serbia).
The training has been organised by the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) and the Serbian NGO “Group 484” and will be given by the International Commission of Jurists. It will focus on international protection of migrants and asylum seekers, the principle of non-refoulement, and human rights in expulsion procedures, drawing from the jurisprudence of the European Court of Human Rights, of the UN human rights systems and from EU law. The training will be centered on the ICJ Practitioners Guide no. 6: Migration and International Human Rights Law.
Serbia-agenda-migration-2012 (download the agenda of the training)
Photo credit: © Stabilisation Unit/DFID (the DFID has no involvement in nor does support this event)
Oct 10, 2012 | News
On the tenth annual World Day against the Death Penalty, the ICJ urges the President of India to grant clemency to Mohammed Ajmal Amir Kasab.
“There is no doubt that Kasab’s crimes were heinous causing immeasurable suffering but execution is not the answer,” said Sam Zarifi, ICJ Asia Pacific Regional Director. “Putting him to death would be a significant step backwards for India. It would end the eight-year hiatus on executions and disregard the call in repeated UN General Assembly Resolutions that all States should observe an immediate moratorium on the death penalty with a view towards full abolition.”
October 10, 2012 is the World Day against the Death Penalty. The ICJ considers the death penalty to constitute a violation of the right to life and a form of cruel and inhuman punishment.
The ICJ calls on all countries to abolish the death penalty.
“The death penalty violates the inherent dignity of the person,” Zarifi added. “And as we have seen in India as well as all over the world, it is not possible to administer capital punishment without some degree of inconsistency, subjectivity and arbitrariness.”
More than 150 of 192 United Nations member states have either abolished the death penalty or do not practice it.
In South Asia, Nepal abolished the death penalty in its 1997 Constitution and Sri Lanka has not carried out an execution since 1976.
Kasab, a 25-year old Pakistani national, was sentenced to the death for his role in the Mumbai terrorist attack in 2008.
The Supreme Court confirmed Kasab’s death sentence on 29 August 2012, upholding the judgment of the Bombay High Court on 21 February 2011 and the sentence handed down by a lower court in May 2010. On 18 September 2012, Kasab sent a four-line handwritten mercy plea to the President of India.
The Maharashtra Home Ministry recommended rejecting the mercy plea on 24 September 2012 and Governor of Maharashtra, K Sankaranarayan, advised the same on 29 September 2012. The petition has now been forwarded to the Union Government.
CONTACT:
Sam Zarifi, ICJ Asia-Pacific Regional Director, t: +41(0)22 979 38 00; sam.zarifi(at)icj.org
Sheila Varadan, ICJ Legal Advisor, South Asia Programme, t: +66 857200723; sheila.varadan(at)icj.org
