By Musa Mdluli

MBABANE:Human Rights Watch has released a report, criticizing the eSwatini Government particularly the Supreme Court, for legitimizing the persecution of leaders of the People’s United Democratic Movement(PUDEMO) under the Suppression of Terrorism Act.

This comes after PUDEMO Mlungisi Makhanya, the late assassinated human rights lawyer Thulani Maseko, Deputy Secretary General Maxwell Dlamini and the late former President of the organization Mario Masuku successfully challenged the constitutionality of Section 11(1) and (2) of the Suppression of Terrorism Act.

But the Supreme Court subsequently set aside the High Court judgement declaring the said provisions of the STA unconstitutional, the judgement was delivered this month.

Eswatini is ruled by King Mswati as an absolute Monarch, political parties are banned and human rights defenders are arrested, tortured or killed for demanding democracy.

The King controls the Executive, Judiciary and Parliament and, is alleged to have recently issued an order to sentence two(2) pro-democracy Members of Parliament(MPs) Bacede Mabuza and Mthandeni Dube using the same Suppression of Terrorism Act, the law is allegedly weaponized to undermine human rights and target those calling for democracy in eSwatini.

“On August 13, Eswatini’s Supreme Court overturned a 2016 High Court decision that declared several repressive provisions of the 1938 Suppression of Terrorism Act (STA) and 2008 Sedition and Subversive Activities Act (SSA) invalid.The 2016 High Court decision had declared that several sections of SSA and STA violated the rights to freedom of association, expression, and assembly, guaranteed in Eswatini’s Constitution and the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights, to which Eswatini is party.The 2016 decision combined four separate applications to the High Court brought by six activists.The activists, who included the late human rights lawyer Thulani Maseko, Mario Masuku, leader of the banned People\'s United Democratic Movement (PUDEMO), and Maxwell Dlamini, leader of PUDEMO’s youth wing, had been separately charged under the SSA for allegedly making subversive statements and sedition. They had also been charged under the STA for allegedly “chanting slogans of a terrorism nature,” “wearing t-shirts which bore terrorist demands at the back,” and participating in a demonstration calling for a boycott of elections”, reads the Human Rights Watch report in part.

The international human rights organization further noted that, the Supreme Court judgement will give the Government more powers to undermine human rights.

“The Supreme Court’s decision to overturn the High Court’s ruling will embolden the government to ramp up its ongoing crackdown on opposition, human rights, and pro-democracy activists and weaponize the criminal justice system. This ruling is the latest in a worrying trend of authorities employing vague and overly broad provisions of terrorism laws to suppress freedom of association, expression, and assembly. In July, two former members of parliament, Mduduzi Bacede Mabuza and Mthandeni Dube, were sentenced to prison terms of 25 and 18 years respectively for participating in and supporting pro-democracy protests in 2021”, reads the report in part.