Amnesty International
Bhekithemba Makhubu, editor of Swaziland’s monthly news magazine The Nation and human rights lawyer Thulani Maseko
were released on 30 June after the State conceded, at their appeal
before the Swaziland Supreme Court, that it had no case against them.
The sentence against The Nation magazine was also overturned.
The
two men had been in prison since March 2014 serving a two year sentence
for contempt of court, imposed after an unfair trial. They were
sentenced in connection with two articles published in The Nation
magazine in February 2014 in which they raised concerns about the lack
of judicial independence and impartiality in Swaziland.
There
was a clear conflict of interest at their trial, as the presiding
judge, Mpendulo Simelane, had been named in one of the articles. Also,
before the judgment being handed down in court, the then Minister of
Justice may have had a meeting with the judge in his chambers.
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