{"id":25122,"date":"2023-02-09T10:12:25","date_gmt":"2023-02-09T10:12:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/rights-group-blasts-killing-of-eswatini-lawyer"},"modified":"2023-02-09T10:48:59","modified_gmt":"2023-02-09T10:48:59","slug":"rights-group-blasts-killing-of-eswatini-lawyer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/rights-group-blasts-killing-of-eswatini-lawyer","title":{"rendered":"Rights group blasts killing of Eswatini lawyer"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"color: #ff6600\"><strong>Africa-Press &#8211; Lesotho. <\/strong><\/span>A local civil society group, Lawyers for Human Rights, has condemned the assassination of their Eswatini colleague, Advocate Thulani Maseko. Advocate Maseko was murdered last Saturday at his home in Mbabane while watching television with his family.<\/p>\n<p>No arrests have been made yet. In a statement the President of Lesotho Lawyers for Human Rights, Advocate Zwelakhe Mda KC, said they are saddened by the assassination of their colleague.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt would be an overstatement to describe our reaction to the callous and cowardly deed,\u201d Advocate Mda said.<\/p>\n<p>He said recent developments in Eswatini characterised by the steady descent of the country into lawlessness and total disregard for human life by security agencies were clear signals that something of this kind was likely to happen.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe learned that Thulani was murdered in his home while watching television with his family,\u201d he said. Advocate Mda said Maseko had been in the forefront of the struggle for constitutional reforms and respect for human rights in his country.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHe was the head of the Multi-Stakeholders Forum that has been calling for constitutional reforms in Eswatini,\u201d he said. Advocate Maseko was also the leader of the Lawyers for Human Rights in Eswatini.<\/p>\n<p>He was imprisoned for two years for expressing concern over the lack of judicial independence in his country, the statement read. Because of his imprisonment, Amnesty International declared him a prisoner of conscience.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHe has been defending MPs who have now been in prison for two years for daring to call for constitutional reforms in Eswatini,\u201d Advocate Mda said.<\/p>\n<p>He said Advocate Maseko was a \u2018marked man\u2019 hence their position while they were deeply saddened by his death, it has not completely shocked them. He said the killing of Advocate Maseko was expected.<\/p>\n<p>But that is the reality of our times in his region whose political leaders speak glowingly of their commitment to human rights and the rule of law, Advocate Mda said.<\/p>\n<p>He said the Amaswati have in the past called on SADC to do all in its powers to intervene \u201cand it has the capacity to do so if it had the political will to push for meaningful constitutional reforms in that country\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>Sadly, he said, all those calls have been met with half-hearted measures by the regional body. Advocate Mda said this happened even at the height of state sponsored killings of unarmed citizens whose only sin was to demand freedom from feudalism.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHow many more Thulani Masekos and ordinary Amaswati have to die at the hands of hired assassins for SADC to intervene decisively in Eswatini?\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>Advocate Mda pleaded for an independent investigation into the assassination of Advocate Maseko. Meanwhile, a local rights organisation Transformation Resources Centre (TRC), has also condemned the killing.<\/p>\n<p>The TRC said it has \u201clearned with grave concern and deep sadness the cold-blooded killing of Thulani Maseko, a human rights lawyer who was gunned down at his home in Eswatini\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe centre expresses (its) condolences to the bereaved family and peace-loving citizens of Eswatini for the brazen assassination of this human rights defender,\u201d the TRC said.<\/p>\n<p>They also called for the government of Eswatini to ensure that the heinous killing of a bulwark of democracy and change is fully investigated and perpetrators prosecuted in a fair trial. The TRC called for the setting up of an independent commission of inquiry to probe the circumstances surrounding the assassination.<\/p>\n<p>The Southern Africa People\u2019s Solidarity Network (SAPSN) also released a statement pleading with the SADC Heads of State and Government and the SADC Panel of Elders to urgently fulfill the commitment to facilitate a SADC-led National Dialogue process in Eswatini to find a permanent resolution to the crisis in the country.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe will stand in solidarity with the people of SADC to seek accountability for this killing and will not rest until we see justice for Thulani,\u201d the SAPSN statement reads.<\/p>\n<p>It pleaded with SADC leaders to act decisively and stop the systematic violence and abuse of those seeking the democratisation of Africa\u2019s last absolute monarchy.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe urge President Cyril Ramaphosa and the SADC Organ on Politics, Defence and Security Cooperation to immediately release the Fact-Finding Mission Report of October 2021.<\/p>\n<p><strong>For More News And Analysis About <a href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\">Lesotho<\/a> Follow <a href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/\">Africa-Press<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Africa-Press &#8211; Lesotho. A local civil society group, Lawyers for Human Rights, has condemned the assassination of their Eswatini colleague, Advocate Thulani Maseko. Advocate Maseko was murdered last Saturday at his home in Mbabane while watching television with his family. No arrests have been made yet. In a statement the President of Lesotho Lawyers for [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":25121,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,3,7],"tags":[233,246,716,245],"class_list":["post-25122","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-community","category-head-lines","tag-africa-press","tag-africa-press-lesotho","tag-human","tag-lesotho"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.1 (Yoast SEO v27.0) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Rights group blasts killing of Eswatini lawyer - Lesotho<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"A local civil society group, Lawyers for Human Rights, has condemned the assassination of their Eswatini colleague, Advo ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/rights-group-blasts-killing-of-eswatini-lawyer\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Rights group blasts killing of Eswatini lawyer\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"A local civil society group, Lawyers for Human Rights, has condemned the assassination of their Eswatini colleague, Advo ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/rights-group-blasts-killing-of-eswatini-lawyer\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Lesotho\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2023-02-09T10:12:25+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2023-02-09T10:48:59+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/sites\/62\/2023\/02\/postQueueImg_1675925127.30.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1280\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"720\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/rights-group-blasts-killing-of-eswatini-lawyer#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/rights-group-blasts-killing-of-eswatini-lawyer\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"Rights group blasts killing of Eswatini lawyer\",\"datePublished\":\"2023-02-09T10:12:25+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-02-09T10:48:59+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/rights-group-blasts-killing-of-eswatini-lawyer\"},\"wordCount\":714,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/rights-group-blasts-killing-of-eswatini-lawyer#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/sites\/62\/2023\/02\/postQueueImg_1675925127.30.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Africa Press\",\"Africa Press-Lesotho\",\"human\",\"Lesotho\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"community\",\"head lines\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/rights-group-blasts-killing-of-eswatini-lawyer#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/rights-group-blasts-killing-of-eswatini-lawyer\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/rights-group-blasts-killing-of-eswatini-lawyer\",\"name\":\"Rights group blasts killing of Eswatini lawyer - 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