AFRICAN HUMAN RIGHTS LAW REPORTS 2007 2008 African human rights law reports 2007 Published by: Pretoria University Law Press (PULP) The Pretoria University Law Press (PULP) is a publisher at the Faculty of Law, University of Pretoria, South Africa. PULP endeavours to publish and make available innovative, high-quality scholarly texts on law and related disciplines in Africa. PULP also publishes a series of collections of legal documents related to public law in Africa, as well as text books from African countries other than South Africa. For more information on PULP, see www.pulp.up.ac.za Printed and bound by: ABC Press Cape Town To order, contact: PULP Faculty of Law University of Pretoria South Africa 0002 Tel: +27 12 420 4948 Fax: +27 12 362 5125 [email protected] www.pulp.up.ac.az ISSN: 1812-2418 © 2008 CONTENTS Editorial v User guide vi Abbreviations vii Case law on the internet vii TABLES AND INDEXES Table of cases ix Alphabetical table of cases xi Subject index xii International instruments referred to xix International case law considered xxviii African Commission decisions according to communication xxxiii numbers CASES United Nations human rights treaty bodies 1 African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights 71 Sub-regional courts 117 Domestic decisions 147 iii EDITORIAL The African Human Rights Law Reports include cases decided by the United Nations human rights treaty bodies, the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights and domestic judgments from different African countries. This eighth volume of the Reports for the first time also includes judgments that deal with human rights issues from the courts of African regional economic communities. The Reports are a joint publication of the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights and the Centre for Human Rights, University of Pretoria, South Africa. PULP also publishes the French version of these Reports, Recueil Africain des Décisions des Droits Humains. The Reports, as well as other material of relevance to human rights law in Africa, may be found on the website of the Centre for Human Rights at www.chr.up.ac.za. Hard copies of the Reports can be obtained from the Centre for Human Rights. Editorial changes have been kept to a minimum, and are confined to changes that are required to ensure consistency in style (with regard to abbreviations, capitalisation, punctuation and quotes) and to avoid obvious errors related to presentation. Quotes and references have, where possible, been checked against the original. Corrections which may affect the meaning are indicated by square brackets. Cases from national courts that would be of interest to include in future issues of the Reports may be brought to the attention of the editors at: Centre for Human Rights Faculty of Law University of Pretoria, Pretoria 0002 South Africa Fax: + 27 12 362-5125 E-mail: [email protected] v USER GUIDE The cases and findings in the Reports are grouped togehter according to their origin, namely, the United Nations, the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights and domestic courts. The Subject index is divided into two parts — general principles or procedural issues, and substantive rights. Decisions dealing with a specific article in an international instrument are to be found in the list of International instruments referred to. A table that lists International case law considered is also included. In these tables case references are followed by the numbers of the paragraphs in which the instruments or cases are cited. A headnote, to be found at the top of each case, provides the full original title of the case as well as keywords noting the primary issues in the case. These are liked to the keywords in the Subject index. Keywords are followed by the numbers of the paragraphs in which a specific issue is dealt with. In instances where the original case contains no paragraph numbers these have been added in square brackets. The date at the end of a case reference refers to the date the case was decided. The abbreviation before the date indicates the jurisdiction. vi ABBREVIATIONS ACHPR African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights AHRLR African Human Rights Law Reports CAT Committee Against Torture CCPR International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights EAC East African Court of Justice ECOWAS Economic Community of West African States Community Court of Justice HRC United Nations Human Rights Committee KeHC High Court, Kenya NaSC Supreme Court, Namibia NgCA Court of Appeal, Nigeria SADC Southern African Development Community Tribunal ZwSC Supreme Court, Zimbabwe CASE LAW ON THE INTERNET Case law concerning human rights in Africa may be found on the following sites: United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights www.ohchr.org African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights www.achpr.org Centre for Human Rights, University of Pretoria www.chr.up.ac.za International Law in Domestic Courts (ILDC) www.oxfordlawreports.com Interights www.interights.org Association des Cours Constitutionelles www.accpuf.org Commonwealth Legal Information Institute www.commonlii.org Southern African Legal Information Institute www.saflii.org High Court, Malawi www.judiciary.mw Court of Appeal, Nigeria www.courtofappeal.gov.ng vii Nigeria Internet Law Reports www.nigeria-law.org/LawReporting.htm Constitutional Court, South Africa www.constitutionalcourt.org.za viii TABLE OF CASES UNITED NATIONS HUMAN RIGHTS TREATY BODIES Human Rights Committee Algeria Abbassi v Algeria (2007) AHRLR 3 (HRC 2007) Cameroon Njaru v Cameroon (2007) AHRLR 21 (HRC 2007) Titiahonjo v Cameroon (2007) AHRLR 29 (HRC 2007) Libya El Dernawi v Libya (2007) AHRLR 35 (HRC 2007) South Africa Prince v South Africa (2007) AHRLR 40 (HRC 2007) Committee Against Torture Tunisia Ben Salem v Tunisia (2007) AHRLR 54 (CAT 2007) AFRICAN COMMISSION ON HUMAN AND PEOPLES’ RIGHTS Eritrea Article 19 v Eritrea (2007) AHRLR 73 (ACHPR 2007) Zimbabwe Chinhamo v Zimbabwe (2007) AHRLR 96 (ACHPR 2007) SUB-REGIONAL COURTS East African Court of Justice Katabazi and Others v Secretary General of the East African Community and Another (2007) AHRLR 119 (EAC 2007) ECOWAS Community Court of Justice Essien v The Gambia and Another (2007) AHRLR 131 (ECOWAS 2007) SADC Tribunal Mike Campbell (Pvt) Limited and Another v Zimbabwe (2007) AHRLR 141 (SADC 2007) DOMESTIC DECISIONS Kenya Waweru v Republic (2007) AHRLR 149 (KeHC 2007) Namibia Luboya and Another v State (2007) AHRLR 165 (NaSC 2007) ix x Table of cases Nigeria Inspector-General of Police v All Nigeria People’s Party and Others (2007) AHRLR 179 (NgCA 2007) Zimbabwe Dzvova v Minister of Education, Sports and Culture and Others (2007) AHRLR 189 (ZwSC 2007) ALPHABETICAL TABLE OF CASES Abbassi v Algeria (2007) AHRLR 3 (HRC 2007) Article 19 v Eritrea (2007) AHRLR 73 (ACHPR 2007) Ben Salem v Tunisia (2007) AHRLR 54 (CAT 2007) Chinhamo v Zimbabwe (2007) AHRLR 96 (ACHPR 2007) Dzvova v Minister of Education, Sports and Culture and Others (2007) AHRLR 189 (ZwSC 2007) El Dernawi v Libya (2007) AHRLR 35 (HRC 2007) Essien v The Gambia and Another (2007) AHRLR 131 (ECOWAS 2007) Inspector-General of Police v All Nigeria People’s Party and Others (2007) AHRLR 179 (NgCA 2007) Katabazi and Others v Secretary General of the East African Community and Another (2007) AHRLR 119 (EAC 2007) Luboya and Another v State (2007) AHRLR 165 (NaSC 2007) Mike Campbell (Pvt) Limited and Another v Zimbabwe (2007) AHRLR 141 (SADC 2007) Njaru v Cameroon (2007) AHRLR 21 (HRC 2007) Prince v South Africa (2007) AHRLR 40 (HRC 2007) Titiahonjo v Cameroon (2007) AHRLR 29 (HRC 2007) Waweru v Republic (2007) AHRLR 149 (KeHC 2007) xi SUBJECT INDEX This index is divided into two parts: the first deals with general principles and procedural issues, and the second part with substantive rights. GENERAL PRINCIPLES AND PROCEDURES Admissibility Applicability of the African Charter Essien v The Gambia and Another (2007) AHRLR 131 (ECOWAS 2007) Compatibility Chinhamo v Zimbabwe (2007) AHRLR 96 (ACHPR 2007) Complaint to be submitted by victim Abbassi v Algeria (2007) AHRLR 3 (HRC 2007) Consideration by other international body Abbassi v Algeria (2007) AHRLR 3 (HRC 2007) Prince v South Africa (2007) AHRLR 40 (HRC 2007) Continuing violation Prince v South Africa (2007) AHRLR 40 (HRC 2007) Exhaustion of local remedies Essien v The Gambia and Another (2007) AHRLR 131 (ECOWAS 2007) Mike Campbell (Pvt) Limited and Another v Zimbabwe (2007) AHRLR 141 (SADC 2007) Administrative remedies Article 19 v Eritrea (2007) AHRLR 73 (ACHPR 2007) Ample notice Article 19 v Eritrea (2007) AHRLR 73 (ACHPR 2007) Complaints not investigated Njaru v Cameroon (2007) AHRLR 21 (HRC 2007) Incommunicado detention Article 19 v Eritrea (2007) AHRLR 73 (ACHPR 2007) Refugees Chinhamo v Zimbabwe (2007) AHRLR 96 (ACHPR 2007) Remedies must be available, effective and sufficient Article 19 v Eritrea (2007) AHRLR 73 (ACHPR 2007) Remedies must not be unduly prolonged Ben Salem v Tunisia (2007) AHRLR 54 (CAT 2007) xii Subject index xiii Failure of state to enforce judgments Chinhamo v Zimbabwe (2007) AHRLR 96 (ACHPR 2007) Release does not mean that complaint becomes moot Abbassi v Algeria (2007) AHRLR 3 (HRC 2007) Specificity of complaint Abbassi v Algeria (2007) AHRLR 3 (HRC 2007) Submission of communication within reasonable time Chinhamo v Zimbabwe (2007) AHRLR 96 (ACHPR 2007) Constitutional supremacy Inspector-General of Police v All Nigeria People’s Party and Others (2007) AHRLR 179 (NgCA 2007) Derogation Not possible under Charter Article 19 v Eritrea (2007) AHRLR 73 (ACHPR 2007) Evidence Failure