C had been held on death row for 4 years and 9 months without lodging any appeals against conviction or sentence. C sought a stay of his execution order on the grounds that the delay was unreasonable and violated the constitutional prohibition on torture or inhuman degrading treatment or punishment. C argued that the holding …Read more

The first appellant was arrested for murder in July 1993. He was committed for trial in November 1993 but there was a technical defect in the committal as a result of which it was subsequently quashed. On 14 November 1994 he was committed again and on 2 October 1995 found guilty and sentenced to death. …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

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

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

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

Williams (W) was convicted of murder and sentenced to death in December 1988. His appeal was dismissed in December 1990 and a senior lawyer advised him that an application to the judicial committee of the privy council for special leave to appeal would have no prospect of success. An appeal against the classification of his …Read more