W, an Assistant Superintendent of Customs, was arrested on 30 April 1996 by the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) acting on the second respondent’s (DIG Sumanasekera) instructions on suspicion of aiding and abetting the smuggling of illegal weapons. They purported to act under s 6(1) of the Prevention of Terrorism (Temporary Provisions) Act, No 48 of …Read more

Amnesty International and three other international human rights organizations filed a series of four complaints (Communications 48/90, 50/91, 52/91, and 89/93) on behalf of hundreds of prisoners, whom the organizations believed suffered detainment without trial, as well as various forms of torture and cruel and inhuman treatment in prison, following a coup d’état in Sudan …Read more

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

Victor Rosario Congo, an Ecuadorian, was placed in a detention center pending investigations into criminal charges. There were indications that he suffered from a mental disorder. In September 12, 1990, Mr. Congo was placed in an isolation cell at which time a guard assaulted him in the Rehabilitation Center, inflicting a wound to his head. …Read more

Michael Aerts, complained his continued detention in the psychiatric wing of a prison pending his transfer to the Social Protection Centre breached the right to liberty and security of person in article 5(1) of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR), the right to fair hearing under article 6(1) of the ECHR, and the prohibition …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 petitioner, who was in deteriorating health, was detained by the authorities for a period of over two months. His attorney-at-law filed a writ of habeas corpus on his behalf seeking his production before the court and immediate release with an explanation for his detention. The hearing was adjourned twice due to the failure of …Read more

S, a writer and president of an Ogoni people’s movement, and L (the movement’s vice-president) were arrested in May 1994 after the murder of four Ogoni leaders following a riot which had occurred during a meeting organized by the movement. It was alleged that S was severely beaten during the first days of his detention …Read more

The Respondent, Yeskey, brought this claim against Pennsylvania’s Department of Corrections alleging that his exclusion from a prison Motivational Boot Camp because of his medical history of hypertension violated the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA). ADA Title II prohibited a “public entity” from discriminating, excluding or denying benefits to a “qualified individual with …Read more

Applicant was a British national suffering from mental illness whilst on prison remand in 1984. He had served sentences for various physical assault convictions. The court imposed a hospital order on the applicant and subjected him to a heightened restriction order for the protection of the public from serious harm under the 1983 Mental Health …Read more