HUMAN RIGHTS ORGANISATIONS CALL FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE OF DESTITUTE PERSONS ARRESTED FOR SLEEPING OUTSIDE CENTRAL METHODIST CHURCH

We welcome the invitation by Community Safety MEC, Khabisi Mosunkutu, to discuss our concerns regarding the arrest of hundreds of destitute people for sleeping outside the Central Methodist Church and in the streets of Johannesburg shortly before midnight on Friday. We will be seeking a meeting with the MEC and other relevant officials in the coming days.

At present, almost all of those arrested remain in custody and will appear at the Johannesburg Magistrate's Court tomorrow morning. We understand that they are to be charged with loitering, public indecency and public disorder. These offences are regarded as "petty" crimes, which do not ordinarily warrant arrest and detention. To arrest persons in such circumstances is an egregious abuse of the police's power to arrest. There can also be no justification for continuing to detain them, which serves no purpose other than to intimidate people who are already impoverished and marginalised.

The targets of the raid were destitute people, regardless of nationality. Although many are Zimbabwean, some destitute South Africans are among those in police custody. Not a single person has been charged with any serious criminal offence.

Those in custody have had great difficulty accessing legal representation and medical attention. Our attempts to consult with the detainees have been frustrated by SAPS members at Johannesburg Central Police Station.

The SAPS have also refused requests by Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) for the release of seven people with serious medical conditions who require urgent treatment. Some of these people sustained their injuries during the arrests. Yesterday, the SAPS undertook to ensure that these people received medical attention and to consider their release on medical grounds. When they had still not received medical attention today, MSF decided to pay admission of guilt fines for the sick and injured. This appeared to be the only way to ensure that the injured and sick detainees received urgently needed medical attention in conditions of appropriate dignity.

Contrary to statements by the MEC for Safety and Security that women and children have been released on a warning, only one minor, a sixteen year-old boy, has been released. We are informed that at least eight other minors remain incarcerated. Two pregnant women, one of them close to nine months pregnant, were among the arrestees, and they remain in police custody. In addition, a blind and deaf 58-year-old South African woman was arrested.

We reiterate our call for the immediate release of all those in custody.

We call on the legal profession to assist in providing pro bono legal representation to secure the release of the detainees.

We shall be taking instructions from those who were arrested, especially those who sustained injuries during the arrests, regarding what future legal action to take against the relevant authorities.

Issued jointly by:

THE LEGAL RESOURCES CENTRE

LAWYERS FOR HUMAN RIGHTS

THE AIDS LAW PROJECT

5 July 2009

For further information, please contact:

LEGAL RESOURCES CENTRE

Jason Brickhill

0731914787

jasonb [at] lrc [dot] org [dot] za

LAWYERS FOR HUMAN RIGHTS

Jacob van Garderen

0828203960

jacob [at] lhr [dot] org [dot] za

AIDS LAW PROJECT

Mark Heywood

0836348806

heywoodm [at] alp [dot] org [dot] za