Eswatini court throws out challenge to deal on US deportees

Eswatini’s high court has thrown out a case filed by human rights lawyers and activists that challenged the government’s deal with the United States to accept third-country deportees. The applicants in the case, led by the Eswatini Litigation Centre, had claimed that the agreement was unconstitutional because it was not submitted to parliament for approval and the terms were not disclosed. Three judges dismissed the case on the primary grounds that the applicants did not have a direct interest in the matter and therefore did not have the right to bring it to court, according to a copy of the judgment delivered on Tuesday.

They also raised other issues, such as the fact that the applicants could not produce a copy of the agreement they were challenging. “We are told to respect the law, yet we watch powerful actors sidestep the constitution,” the Swaziland Rural Women’s Assembly, one of the applicants, said in a statement. “(This case) is about whether people in Eswatini have the right to challenge their government’s decisions.” Eswatini’s attorney general told Reuters last year that the case had no legal basis and was “frivolous”.

Although its courts are independent in theory, Mswati gets the final say on all appointments of senior judges. Rights groups and legal experts say judicial independence is susceptible to interference from the king and his executive. Those sent to Eswatini have included nationals of Vietnam, Cuba, Laos, and Yemen. They are being held in prison, except for one who was repatriated to Jamaica.