The United Nations has called for the immediate release of two of their citizens arrested in Equatorial Guinea since 9th February 2023. This has been declared by the Working Group on Arbitrary Detention of the Human Rights Council, approached by the families of Peter Huxham and Frederik Potgeiter. Two offshore oil platform engineers got twelve years in prison.
They were apprehended in Malabo on 9 February 2023 and was further convicted for the crime of drug trafficking, family members pleaded on their behalf, and that it is a false case and a politically motivated one. Among the allegations they put up is a chain of events including the seizure of assets of Teodorin Obiang-the Vice President of Guinea Equatorial by the South African judiciary while in Cape Town who is currently under torture allegations by a former South African detainee.
The UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention has considered the engineers’ incarceration to be arbitrary and marred by a host of violations of international standards for a fair trial. The group has said the appropriate action is to “release them immediately.”
François Nigrini, speaking on behalf of Peter Huxham, said of the ruling: “We are relieved by today’s decision. It’s a powerful step for the families, as it reaffirms what we’ve always known—these two men are not thieves or narcotic smugglers; they’re innocent.”
The high court’s ruling finally brings some hope, yet it doesn’t definitely clear out any question of the innocence of the South Africans, neither does it handle assertions by their families of hostage-taking. On top of that, the UN decision is nonbinding, but Nigrini is still hopeful for the impact it’ll have. He argues the ruling will force the Equatorial authorities to amend their actions or face an economic backlash and loss of investor confidence.
“It is a very hard blow for the country and its leaders. They will have to change their ways, or it will cause a devastating impact on the economy of Equatorial Guinea and investors,” Nigrini stated.
Despite such a UN move, the Equatorial Guinean government has in many cases shown very little interest and cooperation not only towards the UN Working Group’s requests for visit invitations and incidents of arbitrary arrests and torture allegations.
While this case will be viewed as irrelevant to South Africa, the enormous issue of human rights abuses and judicial reforms in Equatorial Guinea will be brought to the limelight. The hope of the international community is that the detained South African engineers will one day receive justice.