- In a landmark decision, the African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights has found the Eritrean government "in violation" of four articled of the African Charter. Consequently, ruled the Commission, Eritrea should "order the immediate release" of 11 political prisoners held incommunicado since September 2001.
The African Commission yesterday released its "verdict" of November last year in the human rights case against the Eritrean government. Private complainants had accused the government of violating human rights as defined in the African Charter and now won a total victory against the Eritrean government.
In September 2001, eleven former Eritrean government officials were arrested in Asmara, Eritrea, after having signed an open letter to ruling party members criticising the government for acting in an "illegal and unconstitutional" manner. Since their arrest, the group of eleven has been held at an unknown location, without access to their families or lawyers and without any formal accusation.
The case has been running in the African Commission since April 2002 and is sure to create precedence on how to file human rights cases on an African Union level. The right to file a case and have it considered is now proven to be ample, as the complainant is a Swedish politician of Eritrean origin - Mussie Ephrem - and his Dutch lawyer.
The repeated intents of the Eritrean government to first ignore the case and than try to have it rejected utterly failed. The total victory of the complainants comes after thorough written documentation of the case and documented intents to have their case treated by local authorities. This was in strong contrast to the Eritrean government's defence, which mostly came as short oral replies.
The Eritrean government tried to argue that the complainants should have tried harder to raise the case in an Asmara court. This was rejected by the Commission, saying that the Eritrean government itself had admitted that "it has not yet put in place structures that would ensure that cases are handled 'within reasonable time'" and that it "does not afford due process of law for protection of the rights that have been alleged to be violated."
The African Commission fully agreed with the complainants' point of view that the eleven dissidents were held detained under inhumane conditions. "Incommunicado detention is a gross human rights violation that can lead to other violations such as torture or ill-treatment or interrogation without due process safeguards," the Eritrean government was reminded. "There should be no secret detentions," the Commission added.
During the two years of hearing the case, the Commission had not been convinced by the goodwill of the Eritrean government. On several occasions, the Commission had written directly to Eritrean President Issayas Afewerki, urging him to intervene in the case and letting the detained appear before a court. Nothing however has happened since the Commission took the case.
Also regarding the reasons behind the detention of the dissidents, the Commission chose to believe the complainants. The Eritrean government had informed the Commission that that they had been detained "because of crimes against the nation's security and sovereignty." Therefore, their detention was in "consonance with the existing criminal code ... and other relevant national and international instruments" - a description the Commission found to be all too vague.
On the contrary, the Commission saw their detention in relation with their letter criticising government policies. "The facts as presented leave no doubt in the mind of the African Commission that [Eritrea] did indeed restrict the 11 persons' right to free expression. No charges have been brought against the 11 persons and neither have they been brought before the courts," the Commission said.
As a consequence, the African Commission found the Eritrean government to be "in violation of [four] articles ... of the African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights." These articles provide that every individual is entitled to enjoy freedom and liberty, to have the right to have his cause heard and the freedom of expression.
The Commission urged "the State of Eritrea to order the immediate release of the 11 detainees." Further, the final ruling of the Commission recommended that the Eritrean government "compensates the abovementioned persons," given the violation of their human rights.
The case against the Eritrean government can be seen as a landmark case for the African Commission, as it demonstrates the possibility for ordinary citizens of filing and winning a case against a government violating human rights.
The African Commission, which in its ruling makes many references to similar institutions in Europe and the Americas, further demonstrated that it would not tolerate a narrower interpretation of human rights in Africa than in other parts of the world. It however remains to be seen whether the complainants' victory will have any consequences for the eleven dissidents, still detained in Eritrea.
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