Rights International, a non-governmental organization based in the United States, claimed that Nigerian military soldiers arrested and tortured Mr. Charles Baridorn Wiwa at an unknown military detention camp in Gokana, Nigeria. The Complainant alleged that Mr. Wiwa’s detention lasted from January 2-9, 1996, and that during his detention, authorities horsewhipped him, subjected him to various …Read more

Five youths, three of whom were minors, were “street children” abducted, tortured, and killed by State security agents.  The children lived in a sector of the city where violence and crime rate were high and where State officials commit illegal acts against “street children,” including “threats, arrests, cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment and homicides as …Read more

Finn (F) was arrested in 1987 and alleged that he was beaten on his way to the police lock up. He also alleged that threats were then made against his life and that he was given no medical treatment. F claimed that complaints about this ill treatment were not responded to. He was charged, together …Read more

The appellant was convicted of murder and sentenced to death in 1994. In 1996, he lodged a petition with the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACmHR). Although The Bahamas ratified the Charter of the Organisation of American States (OAS) in 1982, it has never ratified the American Convention on Human Rights. However, Article 51 of …Read more

Shaw (S) was arrested for the murder of a family and allegedly acknowledged his involvement in the killings  in an interview preceding a caution statement. He claimed that he was not charged with murder until nineteen days later (although it appeared from the file that the delay was actually nine days) and that he was …Read more

Taylor (T), P (his brother) and S were charged with murdering four persons in May 1992 and were convicted and sentenced to death in July 1994. T claimed that the two years and three months spent in pre-trial detention was unreasonable, given that the primary evidence against him was a statement made by S. He …Read more

On 19 March 1996, an indictment was issued against the four accused ZD, ZM, HD and EL. The indictment related to the events that took place in 1992 in a prison camp near the town of Celebici in central Bosnia and Herzegovina. The accused were charged with grave breaches of the Geneva Conventions of 1949, …Read more

The appellant was arrested and charged with murder and attempted murder arising out of two separate incidents. At the same time, he plead guilty to possession of a firearm and ammunition for which he was sentenced to a total of two years’ imprisonment. Two years later, he was convicted of attempted murder, armed robbery and …Read more

Loayza Tamayo (L) had allegedly been confined in a tiny prison cell for twenty-three and a half hours a day for one year. The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights had requested provisional measures whereby Peru would be requested to end her solitary confinement and incommunicado detention and to return her to the pavilion of the prison …Read more

The petitioners, Salvatori Abuki and Richard Obuga, brought a constitutional challenge against their convictions in a Magistrates’ Court for the practice of witchcraft. (Richard Obuga died before the hearing on the petition began leaving only one petitioner, Abuki.) The petitioner was arrested on a complaint of witchcraft and charged with practicing witchcraft in contravention of …Read more