All Press Releases
25 July 2014
The undersigned organisations, meeting at the Public Interest Law Gathering in Johannesburg, condemn the conviction and unreasonable sentence handed down by Judge Mpendulo Simelane in the Mbabane High Court in Swaziland.
Last week, Judge Simelane found human rights lawyer Thulani Maseko and magazine editor Bheki Makhubu guilty of contempt of court and today sentenced them to a two-year jail...
18 July 2014
Steve Biko Academic Hospital in Pretoria has agreed to treat a 12-year-old Somali girl that was initially refused a life-saving operation.
Lawyers for Human Rights (LHR) and the hospital reached an agreement on Friday that she would be treated immediately at Steve Biko where she has since been admitted as a patient. The agreement was made an order of court in the North Gauteng High Court.
The...
17 July 2014
Lawyers for Human Rights is disappointed by the ruling of the Mbabane High Court in Swaziland that has found prominent Swazi human rights lawyer Thulani Maseko and editor-in-chief of The Nation magazine, Bhekithemba Makhubu guilty of contempt of court.
The judgment marks a worrying development in the right to freedom of speech of journalists and activists. Sentencing in the case has also been...
16 July 2014
Lawyers for Human Rights has launched an urgent application in the North Gauteng High Court seeking life-saving medical treatment for a 12-year-old Somali girl.
The matter will be heard on Friday, 18 July 2014, at 10am.
She arrived in South Africa on 4 July as an asylum-seeker with the intention of applying for refugee status after fleeing conflict in Somalia. Unfortunately, before being able to...
11 July 2014
Lawyers for Human Rights is appalled by the arrest of over 100 community healthcare workers and Treatment Action Campaign members during the start of a peaceful campaign of civil disobedience in the Free State to demand that Health MEC Benny Malakoane be removed from his position given the desperate state of the health system in that province.
More concerning is the violence shown by SAPS during...
7 July 2014
Last week, the North Gauteng High Court in Pretoria set a precedent by declaring a six-year-old child a South African citizen
The child was born to Cuban parents who, due to Cuban law, were not able to pass their citizenship to their child. The court made the order in line with Section 2(2) of the South African Citizenship Act, 88 of 1995. This section guarantees citizenship to children...
20 June 2014
Lawyers for Human Rights is disturbed by the increasing number of incidents of violence against foreign nationals in South Africa.
On the eve of World Refugee Day on 20 June, LHR would like to express deep concern about the inhumane treatment of refugees and asylum-seekers at refugee reception offices across the country. On Thursday (19 June), LHR witnessed first-hand the violence...
18 June 2014
Andrew Feinstein, Paul Holden and Hennie van Vuuren, represented by Lawyers for Human Rights, have responded to Judge Willie Seriti’s request for a detailed list of documents and evidence that has, so far, not been delivered by the Arms Procurement Commission despite numerous appeals.
Repeated requests for documents
During the cross-examination of former finance minister Trevor Manuel on...
5 June 2014
Lawyers for Human Rights is challenging the constitutionality of the procedures and safeguards governing the detention of people suspected of being illegal foreigners under the Immigration Act and the new Immigration Regulations at the Lindela Repatriation Centre near Krugersdorp.
LHR has grown increasingly alarmed at serious constitutional difficulties with both the legislation concerned and the...