Southern Africa Human Rights Defenders Network (SAHRD) has called on the authorities in Eswatini to immediately release Colani Maseko and stop harassing human rights defenders (HRDs) in the country.
SAHRD said Maseko, who is the president of the Swaziland National Union of Students (SNUS), was arrested on 31 January, 2022, ‘in a violent manner’.
Maseko has been actively demanding the release of pro-democracy lawmakers Mduduzi Mabuza and Mthandeni Dube, who were arrested in June 2021 amid a wave of protests.
Development Diaries understands that Maseko is being charged with sedition and malicious damage to property after he allegedly removed pictures of King Mswati III from a university campus and destroyed them.
‘News filtering that Colani Maseko, the President of the Swaziland National Union of Students, grabbed and arrested in a violent manner. His crime being a democracy and human rights activist. We call on the authorities to stop harassing HRDs and release him forthwith’, SAHRD tweeted.
For their part, Amnesty International (AI) said that all the charges preferred against Maseko are a ploy to stifle the pro-democracy movement and harass the human rights activist.
‘Colani Maseko must be immediately and unconditionally released and all these politically motivated charges against him must be withdrawn. Otherwise, he must be promptly brought to court and guaranteed a fair trial’, AI’s Director for Southern Africa, Deprose Muchena, said.
‘The Eswatini authorities must urgently end their crackdown on political activists and human rights defenders. The views of these activists should be welcomed in the arena of public debate, not repressed. Authorities must allow people to freely exercise their human rights without any reprisals’.
The All Africa Student Union (AASU) also called on the African Union (AU) and the Southern African Development Community (SADC) to prevail on Eswatini to adhere to the African People and Human Rights Charter to which it is a signatory.
‘The All Africa Students Union is requesting the immediate release of comrade Colani Maseko and urging the government of Eswatini to engage in dialogue in order to address legitimate citizen concerns’, AASU said in a statement.
A series of ongoing protests in Eswatini against the monarchy and for democratisation began in late June 2021. According to AI, over 70 persons have been killed by security forces during protests.
Eswatini is the last absolute monarchy in Africa, with King Mswati III having supreme executive, legislative, and judicial powers alongside legal immunity.
According to the U.S. State Department’s Eswatini 2020 Human Rights Report, authorities kept political prisoners, restricted free expression and the press, restricted political participation and engaged in serious acts of corruption.
Human Rights Watch (HRW) also noted that restrictions on freedom of association and assembly continued in the country in 2020.
Similarly, Freedom House ranked the country as ‘not free’ in its 2021 Freedom of the World report on political rights and civil liberties, with Eswatini earning 19 points out of a possible 100.
Photo source: Swaziland Democratic News
