JOHANNESBURG: Amnesty International on Tuesday condemned jail sentences handed to two pro-democracy lawmakers in Eswatini as an attempt to suppress peaceful dissent and called for the men to be unconditionally released.
The US embassy in the small southern African kingdom also raised concerns about the sentences announced Monday, three years after Mduduzi Bacede Mabuza and Mthandeni Dube were arrested on charges of murder and “terrorism.”
The Eswatini High Court sentenced Mabuza to 25 years in jail and Dube to 18 years. Both had pleaded innocent to all charges ahead of their conviction in 2023.
They were arrested in July 2021 during pro-democracy protests that were violently quashed by police, leaving dozens dead.
“Eswatini authorities must immediately quash the unjust and baseless convictions and sentences of the former members of parliament,” said Amnesty deputy regional director for East and Southern Africa, Vongai Chikwanda.
“Their convictions and sentences stem solely from the peaceful exercise of their human rights,” Chikwanda said in a statement, labelling the jailing a “blatant attempt to suppress peaceful dissent.”
The former MPs had advocated for pro-democracy reforms in the kingdom of around 1.2 million people, most of whom live in poverty. King Mswati III, in power since 1986, can veto any legislation, appoints the prime minister and cabinet, and is constitutionally above the law.
The US embassy also raised concerns about the sentences handed to the former MPs, saying in a statement: “There has been widespread reporting that their detentions are arbitrary, based on groundless charges of murder and terrorism.”
The pair “were targeted for bravery calling for political and human rights reform in the country,” it said, urging the government not to use courts to “suppress dissenting views.”
In its reaction, the government said the US statement was an “affront” and the embassy should “respect the due process of the law.”
“Casting aspersions on the independence of our judiciary after delivery of judgment by a court of competent jurisdiction is an affront to the rule of law,” spokesman Alpheous Nxumalo said in a statement.
Amnesty, US criticize jailing of Eswatini pro-democracy MPs
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Amnesty, US criticize jailing of Eswatini pro-democracy MPs
- The Eswatini High Court sentenced Mabuza to 25 years in jail and Dube to 18 years
Greek coast guard search for 15 after migrant boat found adrift
- The two survivors reported that the vessel had become unstable due to bad weather and there was no means of getting shelter, food or water
ATHENS: Greek coast guard were on Monday searching for 15 people who fell into the water from a migrant boat that was found drifting off the coast of Crete with 17 bodies on board.
The 17 fatalities, all of them men, were discovered on Saturday on the craft, which was taking on water and partially deflated, some 26 nautical miles (48 kilometers) southwest of the island.
Post-mortem examinations were being carried out to determine how they died but Greek public television channel ERT suggested they may have suffered from hypothermia or dehydration.
A Greek coast guard spokeswoman told AFP that two survivors reported that “15 people fell in the water” after the motor cut out on Thursday, then the vessel drifted for two days.
At the time, Crete and much of the rest of Greece was battered by heavy rain and storms.
The two survivors reported that the vessel had become unstable due to bad weather and there was no means of getting shelter, food or water.
The vessel had 34 people on board and had left the Libyan port of Tobruk on Wednesday, the Greek port authorities said. Most of those who died came from Sudan and Egypt.
It was initially spotted by a Turkish-flagged cargo ship on Saturday, triggering a search that included ships and aircraft from the Greek coast guard and the European Union border agency Frontex.
Migrants have been trying to reach Crete from Libya for the last year, as a way of entering the European Union. But the Mediterranean crossing is perilous.
In Brussels, the EU’s 27 members on Monday backed a significant tightening of immigration policy, including the concept of returning failed asylum-seekers to “return hubs” outside the bloc.
The UN refugee agency said more than 16,770 asylum seekers in the EU have arrived on Crete since the start of the year — more than any other island in the Aegean Sea.
Greece’s conservative government has also toughened its migration policy, suspending asylum claims for three months, particularly those coming to Crete from Libya.
