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LESOTHO @Torture, Political Killings and Abuses Against Trade Unionists £LESOTHO @Torture, political killings and abuses against trade unionists Lesotho, which has been under military rule since 1986, is due to return to civilian government after multi-party elections in October 1992. The constitution which has been drafted for the transition to civilian rule contains a Bill of Rights which guarantees protection of all fundamental human rights. However, Amnesty International remains concerned about the failure of the Lesotho Government to respect human rights in a number of important respects: in particular, its failure to take adequate steps to investigate and prevent a number of cases of torture and alleged extrajudicial execution. Amnesty International is also concerned about the continuing imprisonment of 23 people arrested after the military seizure of power in 1986 who were convicted in trials which apparently did not conform to internationally accepted standards of fairness. In recent months the government has also taken a number of measures against the trade union movement, including the imprisonment of trade union officials and the use of the Internal Security Act to restrict the holding of meetings. Although the introduction of the new Constitution should increase protection of human rights in Lesotho, Amnesty International is calling on the present military government to take prompt action to end these abuses. Political imprisonment, torture and extrajudicial execution have been endemic in Lesotho under successive governments. The advent of a new civilian Constitution and Bill of Rights provides no automatic guarantee that these human rights violations will end. History and constitution Lesotho achieved independence from Britain in 1966. It is an enclave within South Africa, formed in the mid-nineteenth century when King Moshoeshoe I rallied the Basotho nation in a secure mountainous region away from the areas controlled by the Dutch and British settlers. Lesotho is economically dependent on South Africa, its chief export being the labour of Basotho migrant workers in the South African mines. This source of income has declined in recent years. The Lesotho Government hopes that the resulting loss of foreign exchange will be replaced by the proceeds of the Lesotho Highlands Water Project, an ambitious scheme to create reservoirs and sell water to South Africa. However, the loss of mine remittances and the return of migrant workers has prompted wide-ranging debate about the future of the country. Amnesty International May 1992 AI Index: AFR 33/01/92 2 Lesotho: Torture, political killings and abuses against trade unionists At independence Lesotho was a constitutional monarchy with a multi-party parliamentary system. King Moshoeshoe II was head of state, with a combination of ceremonial and executive functions. Under the 1966 Constitution human rights were guaranteed by a justiciable Bill of Rights. In 1970, Prime Minister Leabua Jonathan declared a state of emergency and suspended the Constitution after his Basutoland National Party had lost a general election. In 1974 the government introduced an Internal Security Act which allowed incommunicado detention without charge or trial for up to 60 days. There were frequent reports of torture of prisoners held under the Internal Security Act, as well as prisoners dying in custody. In 1982 the Internal Security Act was amended to allow detention without charge for a maximum of three 14-day periods (it was further amended in 1984). The 1983 Human Rights Act reintroduced a measure of legal protection of human rights. However, it did not constitute a Bill of Rights, since the guarantees it offered were subordinate to existing laws, including the Internal Security Act. In 1986 a military council chaired by Major General Justin Metsing Lekhanya seized power. The King, who had occupied a figurehead position since the suspension of the 1966 Constitution, had certain executive powers restored to him. All party political activity was banned. Senior army officers who opposed the military takeover were arrested and two died in custody. Soldiers were tried before a court martial without proper guarantees of a fair trial and sentenced to terms of imprisonment. Two former ministers in the Leabua Jonathan government were abducted by soldiers and killed. A state of emergency was in force between 1988 and 1989 and the government used its detention powers under the Internal Security Act to hold, among others, newspaper editor Johnny wa ka Maseko before his expulsion from the country in 1988. The following year a university lecturer, Joel Moitse, and a politician, Majara Jonathan Molapo, were both detained without charge for two weeks under the provisions of the Act. In March 1990 the King was forced into exile and his cousins, Sekhobe and Thabo Letsie, were expelled from the Military Council. Later in the year King Moshoeshoe abdicated to be replaced by his younger son, who became King Letsie III. A year later Major General Lekhanya was himself forced to resign, to be replaced by Colonel Elias Phisoana Ramaema. In May 1991 the Military Council lifted the 1986 ban on political parties. In 1990 the Military Council had embarked on a process of returning the country to civilian rule, nominating a Constituent Assembly. In 1991 the assembly produced a draft constitution modelled upon the 1966 Constitution, particularly in its Bill of Rights, which is enforceable through the courts. The new draft differed from the 1966 Constitution in restricting the King's executive powers. The assembly nominated a Constitutional Commission, chaired by the Minister of Justice, to solicit popular reactions to the AI Index: AFR 33/01/92 Amnesty International May 1992 Lesotho: Torture, political killings and abuses against trade unionists 3 constitutional draft. Some organizations, notably the Law Society, were critical of the Constituent Assembly since it was a nominated rather than popularly elected body. Elections for a civilian parliament are expected to take place in October 1992. Torture, "disappearance" and extrajudicial execution The failure of governments to investigate and take action to prevent torture, ill-treatment, deaths in custody or extrajudicial executions dates from before the military takeover in 1986. For example, in 1981 a church newspaper editor, Edgar Motuba, and two friends were abducted and murdered, apparently by a pro-government death squad. When an inquest was finally held in 1984 it failed to assign responsibility for the killings. The magistrate who presided over the inquest called for further investigations into the deaths, but apparently none took place. Equally, since 1986 there has been a consistent failure on the part of the authorities to prevent similar abuses or to bring those responsible to justice. The continuing existence of an independent judicial system has allowed some abuses to be exposed publicly. Thus in 1990 the High Court awarded damages to a former prisoner who alleged that he had been tortured in the custody of the Royal Lesotho Mounted Police. But there was apparently no further investigation of the allegations and no criminal charges were brought against the officers responsible. In some cases inquests have been held into deaths in detention, but again no action has been taken against the individual law enforcement officials responsible. The frequent recurrence of such cases indicates that both the police and the military (the Royal Lesotho Defence Force) feel able to act with impunity. Amnesty International knows of only one such case where there has been a full investigation, followed by the criminal prosecution of perpetrators of human rights violations. In 1986 two former ministers in the government of Leabua Jonathan, Desmond Sixishe and Vincent Makhele, and their wives were abducted. Their bodies were later found on the remote Bushman's Pass. Two other people abducted with them identified the murderers as military personnel. However, no prosecutions were brought until 1990, when Colonel Sekhobe Letsie, a cousin of the deposed king and formerly a central figure in the government, was charged with the murder, along with an army sergeant, Ngoana-Ntloana Lerotholi. The two men were convicted of the murder in March 1991. Although it was welcome that action was finally taken against those alleged to be responsible for the Bushman's Pass killings, the fact that prosecution was delayed until after one of those suspected had been ousted from government suggests that political considerations played an important part in the decision to proceed with the case. For this reason it seems unlikely that their conviction will have an exemplary effect on the conduct of other military personnel. The following are some of the principal cases of concern to Amnesty International, listed in reverse chronological order. Amnesty International is calling upon the Lesotho Amnesty International May 1992 AI Index: AFR 33/01/92 4 Lesotho: Torture, political killings and abuses against trade unionists Government to initiate impartial and independent investigations and to bring those responsible for human rights violations to justice. •Mofokeng Makakole, a 31-year-old criminal suspect, died in police custody in Maseru on 28 September 1991, apparently as a result of torture. He had been arrested by South African police at Welkom in the Orange Free State and transferred into the custody of the Royal Lesotho Mounted Police on 27 September 1991. On the evening of 27 September the police took Mofokeng Makakole to his father's house in Maseru where he had told them that he had hidden money. Mofokeng Makakole took the opportunity to tell his father that he had been tortured with electric shocks. The police then returned Mofokeng Makakole to the headquarters of the Maseru Criminal Investigation Department (CID). His father contacted a lawyer and together they went to the CID headquarters were they sought and received assurances that Mofokeng Makakole would not be tortured, although they were denied access to him. When the family visited the CID headquarters again on the morning of 29 September they were informed that Mofokeng Makakole had died as a result of jumping from a moving vehicle.
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