GRi in Court International 13 - 02 - 2001
Opposition, human
rights groups hail court ruling
Opposition, human
rights groups hail court ruling
Windhoek (Namibia) 13 February
2001
Opposition and human rights groups
in Windhoek have hailed a court ruling that found Namibian Home Affairs
Minister Jerry Ekandjo guilty of contempt.
The High Court in Windhoek gave
Ekandjo a stern warning after he flouted a court order for the immediate
release of former UNITA representative in Namibia, Jose Domingo Sikunda.
Arrested in the northern town of
Rundu on 17 October, Sikunda, who was finally released on Friday, had been
detained pending deportation by the Home Affairs Ministry for allegedly being a
UNITA collaborator in the country.
The Congress of Democrats (CoD)
and the National Society for Human Rights (NSHR) welcomed Sikunda's release.
"Let the law take the right
course of justice," a spokesperson for the CoD said at the close of the
hearing, adding that the judiciary must be left alone to do their job.
In a statement, the NSHR saluted
the decision by the High Court to find Ekandjo guilty of contempt as "a
victory for democracy, the rule of law, justice for all, the Namibian Constitution
and for the human rights of all Namibians."
It added that if the supreme law
of Namibia was not protected and upheld, the rights and liberties of all
Namibians would not be secure.
"By not releasing Jose
Domingos Sikunda after a court order on 24 October 2000, the minister was
telling the Namibian people that the courts cannot protect them," the NSHR
said.
An application on the deportation
of Sikunda from Namibia would be heard in the Windhoek Labour Court on Friday.
GRi…/
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