British Columbia Civil Liberties Association v Canada (Attorney General)
Country: CanadaYear: 2018
Court: Supreme Court of British Columbia
Citation: 2018 BCSC 62
Health Topics: Mental health, Prisons
Human Rights: Right to bodily integrity, Right to life
The plaintiffs are two non-profit organizations, the British Columbia Civil Liberties Association and the John Howard Society of Canada. The plaintiffs challenged the constitutionality of sections 31-33 and 37 of the Corrections and Conditional Release Act (CCRA), which authorized administrative segregation of inmates in federal prisons. Section 31 provided that the purpose of administrative segregation …Read more
DD v. Secretary of State for Home Department
Country: United KingdomYear: 2014
Court: Royal Courts of London
Citation: [2014] EWHC 3820 (Admin)
Health Topics: Mental health, Prisons
Human Rights: Freedom from torture and cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment
The claimant, DD, a Somali man, was granted asylum and indefinite leave to remain shortly after his arrival in the UK in 2003. Due to his involvement in fundraising for Al-Shabaab, a Terrorism Prevention and Investigation Measure (TPIM) was imposed in 2012. He was charged with breaching the TPIM, remanded into custody, and was sentenced …Read more
Shatrughan Chauhan and another v. Union of India and others
Country: IndiaYear: 2014
Court: Supreme Court
Citation: Writ Petition 55 of 2013
Health Topics: Mental health, Prisons
Human Rights: Freedom from torture and cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment, Right to liberty and security of person, Right to life
Fifteen criminal convicts sentenced to the death penalty challenged their sentences as in violation of Article 21 of the Indian Constitution, which protects the right to life. They claimed that the executive orders rejecting their mercy petitions were passed without considering supervening events, including delay, insanity, solitary confinement, and procedural lapses. Two convicts alleged that the …Read more
Aswat v. United Kingdom
Country: United KingdomYear: 2013
Court: European Court of Human Rights
Citation: Application No. 17299/12
Health Topics: Health care and health services, Mental health, Prisons
Human Rights: Freedom from torture and cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment
The applicant was a man suffering from severe paranoid schizophrenia. He was indicted in the United State as a co-conspirator in an effort to establish a jihad training camp in Oregon. At the time of trial, the applicant was detained in a hospital in the UK and was subject to an extradition request made by …Read more
Benali v Libya
Country: LibyaYear: 2012
Court: United Nations Human Rights Committee
Citation: Communication No. 1805/2008
Human Rights: Freedom from torture and cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment, Right to bodily integrity, Right to liberty and security of person, Right to life
On 9 August 1995, B, a Libyan citizen, was arrested by the Libyan Internal Security Agency and held in secret detention at Abu Slim prison. In September 2000, B’s relatives were informed that B was alive and allowed to visit him in prison. During those visits, B told his relatives he had been regularly tortured …Read more
Khatayev v. Russia
Country: RussiaYear: 2011
Court: European Court of Human Rights
Citation: App. No 56994/09, Eur. Ct. H.R. (2011).
Health Topics: Health care and health services, Infectious diseases, Prisons, Violence
Human Rights: Freedom from torture and cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment
The applicant, a Russian citizen who was diagnosed with pulmonary tuberculosis and tuberculosis papillitis of the kidneys, was transferred to a special “medical colony” to serve a prison sentence of two years and six months for an aggravated robbery conviction. Upon his arrival, the facility provided a new complex prophylactic examination by a tuberculosis specialist …Read more
Kinsella v. Governor of Mountjoy Prison
Country: IrelandYear: 2011
Court: [2011] IEHC 235
Citation: [2011] IEHC 235
Health Topics: Prisons
Human Rights: Freedom from torture and cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment, Right to liberty and security of person
Kinsella, a prisoner in an Irish prison who alleged that his constitutional rights were violated by being placed in unlawful and inhuman prison conditions. While awaiting sentencing for a theft charge, Mr. Kinsella was a remand prisoner at Cloverhill Prison, where he shared a cell with three other prisoners in humane conditions. But after his …Read more
R.M. v Attorney General, et al.
Country: KenyaYear: 2010
Court: Nairobi High Court
Citation: [2010] eKLR; Petition 705 of 2007
Health Topics: Poverty, Prisons, Sexual and reproductive health, Violence
Human Rights: Freedom from discrimination, Freedom from torture and cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment, Right to due process/fair trial
RM was born a hermaphrodite/intersexual and was raised as male. His birth was not registered at the time, which caused RM difficulties later in life as he was not in consequence recognised by the State for employment, marriage or other legal reasons. RM was later convicted of an offence of robbery with violence and sentenced …Read more
Case 2008-48-01
Country: LatviaYear: 2009
Court: Constitutional Court
Citation: Case No. 2008-48-01, Latvia (2008)
Health Topics: Mental health, Prisons
Human Rights: Freedom from torture and cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment, Right to health
The plaintiff argued that the Sentence Execution Code of Latvia, Sec. 74 (2)(the “impugned regulation”) which prohibited convicted persons in solitary confinement from having walks violated his constitutional right to health. In April 2009, the parliament had amended the impuged regulation, allowing for daily one-hour walks, but such amendment was not set to come into …Read more
Manneh v. The Gambia
Country: The GambiaYear: 2008
Court: Court of Justice of the Economic Community of West Africa States
Citation: (2008) AHRLR 171 (ECOWAS 2008)
Health Topics: Health care and health services, Prisons
Human Rights: Freedom from torture and cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment, Right to due process/fair trial, Right to liberty and security of person
Plaintiff alleged that his arrest and continued detention without trial by the National Intelligence Agency of The Gambia violated his rights under the following articles 6 (right to personal liberty), 4 (right to life), 5 (prohibition of torture and cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment), and 7 (right to fair trial) of the African Charter on …Read more