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Ten Long Years: A Briefing on Eritrea’s Missing Political Prisoners

Human Rights Watch Report

CSPRI Newsletter No. 39 - September 2011

This newsletter discusses the problem of prison overcrowding in South Africa in light of recent foreign and international jurisprudential developments. It further explores the possibility of similar reform litigation in South Africa.

30 Days/Dae/Izinsuku September 2011

This month's media summary report includes news about governance and corruption, unsentenced prisoners, parole and sentencing and prison conditions, as well as prison related news from other African countries.

Libya Draft Constitution for Transitional Phase

Unofficial English Translation, 3 August 2011.

'You Don't Know Who To Blame: War Crimes in Somalia'

by Human Rights Watch. "...The population in areas controlled by the Transitional Federal Government and its allies has also been subjected to violations of international human rights and humanitarian law. These include arbitrary arrest and detention, restrictions on free speech and assembly, and indiscriminate attacks harming civilians... "Somalis seeking safety in Kenya contend with police harassment, arbitrary arrests, and deportation back to Somalia. Somali refugees en route to the sprawling complex of refugee camps at Dadaab, Kenya, take hazardous back roads to avoid the Kenyan police and the official border post that until recently remained closed. They are then at the mercy of well organized networks of bandits who engage in robbery and rape."

30 Days/Dae/Izinsuku August 2011

The media reports include issues within the topics of prisons conditions, parole and sentencing, unsentenced prisoners, extradition and escapes, as well as prison related media reports in other African countries.

Law on Legal Aid (2011)

Loi n°136/AN/11/6ème L relative à l’aide judiciaire

Tanzania Univseral Periodic Review National Report to the UN Human Rights Council

The Tanzania Government with the support of the United Nations under the one UN system, held several consultative workshops for purposes of gathering information on the situation of human rights for inclusion in this National Report. The report indicates that Tanzania retains the death penalty.

The Transitional Constitution of the Republic of South Sudan, 2011

"Freedom from Torture 18. No person shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment. Fair Trial 19. (1) An accused person is presumed to be innocent until his or her guilt is proved according to the law. (2) Any person who is arrested shall be informed, at the time of arrest, of the reasons for his or her arrest and shall be promptly informed of any charges against him or her. (3) In all civil and criminal proceedings, every person shall be entitled to a fair and public hearing by a competent court of law in accordance with procedures prescribed by aw. (4) A person arrested by the police as part of an investigation, may be held in detention, for a period not exceeding 24 hours and if not released on bond to be produced in court. The court has authority to either remand the accused in prison or to release him or her on bail. (5) No person shall be charged with any act or omission which did not constitute an offence at the time of its commission. (6) Every accused person shall be entitled to be tried in his or her presence in any criminal trial without undue delay; the law shall regulate trial in absentia. (7) Any accused person has the right to defend himself or herself in person or through a lawyer of his or her own choice or to have legal aid assigned to him or her by the government where he or she cannot afford a lawyer to defend him or her in any serious offence."

ESR Review Volume 12 No 2 - 2011

This is the second issue of the ESR Review for 2011. It hails the adoption of the Principles and Guidelines on the Implementation of Economic, Social and Cultural Rights in the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights by the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights during its 48th ordinary session held from 10 to 24 November 2010 in Banjul, The Gambia. This long-awaited instrument is a landmark in the evaluation of economic social and cultural rights in Africa.

S v Madzokere and Others [2011] ZWHHC 154

"The release of an accused person on bail is aimed at enabling him to attend trial from out of custody. It does not mean he or she has no case to answer. On the other hand the detention of an accused in custody is to secure his or her attendance to stand trial, if there are genuine grounds for believing that the factors mentioned in section 117 (2) have been established against him. That is why the seriousness of the charge the accused is facing is not on its own enough to deny an accused person bail. The court must therefore endevour to strike a balance between the interests of justice, and the accused’s liberty. Section 117 (1) leans in favour of the liberty of the accused person, hence the use of the words, “shall be entitled to be released on bail at any time after he or she has appeared in court on a charge and before sentence is imposed, unless the court finds that it is in the interests of justice that he or she should be detained in custody.” The intention of the legislature was obviously to make s 117 consistent with the presumption of the accused’s innocence until proved guilty. That proof or lack of it can only be established at the accused’s trial."

30 Days/Dae/Izinsuku July 2011

This month's media reports focusses on the topics of unsentenced prisoners, prison conditions, parole and sentencing and governance and corruption.

Pre-trial Detention and Torture: Why Pretrial Detainees Face the Greatest Risk

This paper is part of a series of papers examining the impact of excessive pretrial detention. In addition to the socioeconomic impact of pretrial detention, the papers in the series look at the intersection of pretrial detention and public health, torture, and corruption.

Joseph Amoshima v The State, Supreme Court of Nigeria, Abuja, 17 June 2011

Death sentence constitutional in Nigeria: “It is settled law also that where a statute prescribes a mandatory sentence in clear terms as in the instant case, the courts are without jurisdiction to impose anything less than the mandatory sentence as no discretion exists to be exercised in the matter. It is a duty imposed by law.”

La Constitution Marocain de 2011

This is the French version of the Moroccan Constitution approved in a referendum in July 2011.

Mphembedzu v The Republic, Bail Case No.70 of 2011, High Court of Malawi

Chimwemwe Mphembedzu at 15 was arrested on suspicion of homicide. He was remanded in prison for four years when he contracted a life-threatening illness. His application for bail, some four years after arrest, succeeded, and was partly based on custody time limits provided for in section 161F of the Criminal Procedure and Evidence Code.

Sentencing of Children to Child and Youth Care Centres: Workshop Report

The Child Justice Alliance hosted a one-day workshop to sensitize former reform school principals and provincial coordinators on the provisions of sentencing contained within the Child Justice Act. The purpose was to enlighten the CYCC principals on the provisions and to bring them together to provide recommendations on what is needed and how to address there challenges. These recommendations will be presented to the Inter-Sectoral Committee on Child Justice to action.

Imprisoned and imperiled: access to HIV and TB prevention and treatment, and denial of human rights, in Zambian prisons

Journal of the International AIDS Society 2011, 14:8. "To better understand the relationship between prison conditions, the criminal justice system, and HIV and TB in Zambian prisons, we conducted a mixed-method study, including: facility assessments and in-depth interviews with 246 prisoners and 30 prison officers at six Zambian prisons; a review of Zambian legislation and policy governing prisons and the criminal justice system; and 46 key informant interviews with government and non-governmental organization officials and representatives of international agencies and donors."

A citizen's handbook on the law governing bail in Uganda

This is a publication of the Foundation for Human Rights Initiative (FHRI) and seeks to be a resource to the justice sector and legal profession, as well as a useful guide to the general public on the application of bail in Uganda.

Arbitrary detention of actual or perceived supporters of Laurent Gbagbo

This Amnesty International reports is concerns a number of individuals held at the Pergola Hotel and possibly other locations may be prisoners of conscience, held solely because of their actual or perceived political opinions.

Zimbabwe at the Crossroads

by Takawira Musavengana, OpenSpace Issue 1 June 2011 page 28 "Security Sector - No transition without transformation"

Submission by CSPRI to Portfolio Committee on Defence and Military Veterans on the Implementation of the Geneva Conventions Bill B10-2011.pdf

The submission deals with the Implementation of the Geneva Conventions Bill and addresses: lack of a definition of “grave breaches”; the criminalisation of all breaches not of a grave nature; the need to determine the sentence; and applicable law.

Police Station Visitors' Week Report, Nigeria 2011

The fifth edition of Police Station Visitors' Week (PSVW) was conducted from 31st of October to 6th of November, 2011 in Nigeria. Eight hundred and fifty-four (854) visitors in teams of three people inspected 261 police stations in six police State Commands, namely: Akwa Ibom, FCT, Imo, Kano, Lagos, Rivers state. These visitor teams completed a checklist of 20 questions covering five areas of interest: community orientation, physical conditions, equal treatment of the public, transparency and accountability, and detention conditions.