Swaziland: Mr Thulani Rudolf Maseko - Lawyer at Risk

The Law Society wrote on 15 April 2014 to express concern over the arrest and indictment in March 2014 of Mr Thulani Rudolf Maseko, a prominent human rights lawyer, and Mr Bheki Makhubu, Editor of The Nation magazine.  The charges followed the publication in The Nation of allegedly contemptuous articles criticising Chief Justice Michael Ramodibedi, High Court Judge Mpendulo Simelane and the judicial system of Swaziland. 

The Law Society remains concerned for Mr Maseko and Mr Makhubu who were convicted of contempt of court on 17 July 2014 and, subsequently, on 25 July 2014, sentenced to a period of two years imprisonment.  The sentences of both men were backdated to the date of their arrests on 17 March 2014, from which date they have both been imprisoned.