The applicant, a former teacher and former head of the Diyarbakır branch of the Education and Science Workers Union, made comments to a local newspaper about the mistreatment of teachers by government authorities. She was disciplined according to domestic law—an administrative court ultimately overturned this penalty six years later. Following this incident, the applicant received …Read more

Applicant, a Polish national suffering from chronic depression, alleged violations of Articles 3 (prohibition of torture), 5.3 (trial within a reasonable time), 6.1 (unreasonably long proceedings), and 13 (effective remedy) of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR). The applicant was in detention for fraud charges. While in prison, he attempted suicide twice and went …Read more

The complainant alleged that Nigerian security agents arbitrarily arrested his client, Mr. Ayodele Ameen, as a result of Mr. Ameen’s political activism in support of validating the country’s 12 June 1994 elections, which the Nigerian military government had previously annulled. While in prison, the complainant claimed that Nigerian security officials tortured Mr. Ameen, subjected him …Read more

R was sentenced to six months’ imprisonment by the Chief Magistrate for the offence of escaping from lawful custody contrary to s 138 of the Penal Code Cap 17. In addition the Commissioner of Prisons imposed sanctions on R for the escape under the Prisons Act Cap 86, ss 83(1)A(i) and (vi) and paras 123(3) …Read more

In January 1999 the Standard, a weekly newspaper, published an article alleging a failed coup by senior members of the army. Several reasons for the coup were given including mismanagement of the economy and involvement in the war in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The first applicant, the editor of the Standard, was arrested …Read more

The applicant alleged that his brother had been severely beaten by police when they apprehended him at his village and that he was not provided with the necessary medical treatment for his life-threatening injuries. He also complained of discrimination on the basis of his brother’s Kurdish origin. In 1992, the applicant Nasır İlhan and his …Read more

The plaintiff applied to the European Court of Human Rights alleging that the conditions in the Italian prison Pianosa violated Article 3 of the European Convention of Human Rights, which prohibits torture and inhuman or degrading treatment. The plaintiff was arrested on suspicion of involvement in a mafia-type organization, and transferred to Pianosa Prison. The …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

Under Article 20(2) of the Interim Constitution 2063 in Nepal, every woman in Nepal had the fundamental right to reproductive health. However, there were no effective health services addressing the issue of uterine prolapse, a serious ailment affecting nearly 600,000 women in Nepal. The Petitioners, among others, Pro-Public, an organization working in the area of …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

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

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

Trevor Bennett (“author”) at the time of submission of the communication was awaiting execution at a prison. He had been convicted of murder and sentenced to death. His appeals to the Court of Appeal and Judicial Committee of the Privy Council were dismissed. He claimed violations of articles 6, 7, 9, 10, and 14 of …Read more

The International Commission of Jurists (ICJ) alleged that a large number of children work illegally in many economic sectors in Portugal. It further stated that the poor working conditions these children are subjected to have a serious impact on their health. The ICJ produced several documents and relied particularly on a report which stated that …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

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

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

Aïcha Dalia (“the Applicant”) is an Algerian national who arrived in France when she was approximately 17 years of age, to join her mother and siblings who lawfully resided there. In 1985, she was sentenced to twelve months’ imprisonment for offences against the dangerous drugs legislation, which also made orders for her deportation and permanent …Read more

Applicant is a British citizen and a minor born in 1984 who was beaten on several occasions by his stepfather with a garden cane, causing bruises all over his body, until he was placed under child protection in 1990. The stepfather was charged with assault occasioning actual bodily harm and tried but was found not …Read more

Applicant’s father served as a catering assistant in the British Royal Air Force and had been present at Christmas Island during four nuclear tests. Applicant was diagnosed with leukemia at an early age. Her records of admission to hospital included, under the heading “Summary of Possible Causative Factors” that her father was exposed to radiation. …Read more

The applicant was a 17-year old Turkish national of Kurdish origin girl who lived with her parents in a village in south-east Turkey. Since 1985 serious disturbances had raged in this part of the country between the security forces and the members of a Kurdish separatist party. Turkey claimed that these had resulted in the deaths …Read more

French government issued a decree on 19 December 1996 which, according to article L.162-5-3 of the Social Security Code, requires doctors to pay back social security payment if they do not meet their expected health expenses. Doctors’ trade unions challenged this decree, on the ground that it creates a sanction towards doctors whereas they are …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

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

A Bill entitled ‘Prohibition of Ragging and Other Forms of Violence in Educational Institutions’ was drafted in response to the increase and brutality of ‘ragging’ in educational institutions. Section 17 of the Bill defined ‘ragging’ as ‘any act which causes, or is likely to cause, physical or psychological injury or mental pain or fear or …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 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

The Applicants were four prisoners living with HIV. They sought an order declaring that prisoners living with HIV who had reached the symptomatic stage of the disease and whose CD4 counts was less than 500 per milliliter of blood were entitled to receive appropriate antiretroviral treatment at the Government’s expense. They noted that Section 35(2)(e) …Read more

The petitioners, Salvatori Abuki and Richard Obuga, brought a constitutional challenge against their convictions in a Magistrates’ Court for the practice of witchcraft. (Richard Obuga died before the hearing on the petition began leaving only one petitioner, Abuki.) The petitioner was arrested on a complaint of witchcraft and charged with practicing witchcraft in contravention of …Read more