All news items
21 April 2016
Press Statement by Andrew Feinstein, Paul Holden and Hennie Van Vuuren, regarding the release of the Seriti Commission Report into the Arms Deal
21 April 2016
On the 21st of April 2016, President Jacob Zuma announced the release of the report of the Commission of Inquiry into allegations of fraud, corruption, impropriety or irregularity in the Strategic Defence Procurement Package (the...
15 April 2016
Mamelodi Hostel Residents March, asking the City of Tshwane to address their Concerns
Mamelodi hostel residents will yet again take their issues to the street, asking the City of Tshwane to take them seriously. The residents of the hostel are at loggerheads with the City over the same issue of housing that they have been fighting since year 2000. It is 16 years later and all the City has...
26 November 2015
Lawyers for Human Rights are investigating prison officials at the Kgosi Mampuru II Correctional Centre for alleged abuse of inmates. These range from assault, torture and inadequate access of healthcare treatment for inmates.
An investigation into the alleged abuse of offenders by officials is underway in the Kgosi Mampuru II prison in Pretoria.
It was instigated by Lawyers for Human Rights.
Its...
23 November 2015
The Kgosi Mampuru II Correctional Centre is being investigated for human rights abuses.
It has been alleged that correctional officers severely assaulted and tortured at least 16 inmates.
The assaults apparently occured during routine search and seizure operations.
Lawyers for Human Rights have called for an investigation on the matter.
Penal Reform Programme Head, Clare Ballard, says a...
20 November 2015
The high court in Pretoria reserved judgment in a legal challenge in which Lawyers for Human Rights (LHR) is questioning the constitutionality of sections of the Immigration Act which do not make provision for detainees to be brought before court in person to challenge the lawfulness of their detention.
The Immigration Act allows Home Affairs to arrest and detain a person it deems to be an...
19 November 2015
LHR details incidents of alleged abuse and torture against 16 inmates by correctional officials.
Allegations of severe torture against 16 inmates who allegedly witnessed the murder of another inmate by wardens at the Kgosi Mampuru II Correctional Centre in Pretoria, have surfaced.
Lawyers for Human Rights (LHR) have now requested the Pretoria Central Police station to investigate the...
19 November 2015
Lawyers for Human Rights has called for an immediate investigation into allegations of severe assault and torture at the Kgosi Mampuru II Correctional Centre in Pretoria.
In a letter sent to the station commander of the Pretoria Central Police Station on Tuesday‚ LHR detailed incidents of alleged abuse against 16 inmates by correctional officials.
Some of these inmates were witnesses to the...
18 November 2015
Allegations of murder, beatings, electrocutions and torture made against members of the prisons department's Emergency Support Team have earned the team the nickname "Boko Haram" among prisoners across the country.
Boko Haram is the murderous Islamic terrorist group that has destabilised much of Nigeria.
Members of the team have been implicated in the death of a Pretoria...
11 November 2015
Home affairs maintained there were sufficient protections under the Immigration Act.
Judgment has been reserved in Lawyers for Human Rights’ constitutional challenge against the manner in which suspected undocumented foreigners are detained under Section 34 of the Immigration Act.
LHR filed the challenge in the High Court in Pretoria in June after the introduction of new immigration...
6 November 2015
Warders at Kgosi Mampuru Prison, who have been labelled Boko Haram, are likely to face criminal investigation by the SAPS in connection with allegations of physical abuses and torture of inmates.
The implicated warders were accused of terrorising the inmates inside their cells during the night by severely beating them with tonfas (batons).
Clare Ballards, an attorney working for Lawyers for Human...