James Duddridge – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by James Duddridge on 2014-05-08.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what reports he has received on the arrest of Mario Masuku in Swaziland.

Mark Simmonds

We are concerned by the arrests of Mario Masuku and Maxwell Dlamini at a Workers’ Event in Swaziland on 1 May. They have been charged under the Sedition and Subversive Activities and Suppression of Terrorism Acts and continue to be held in custody pending trial proceedings. We are also concerned by the situation of Thulani Maseko, a lawyer, and Bheki Makhubu, a journalist, who remain in custody in Swaziland following their re-arrest on 9 April 2014. We encourage the Swazi Government to respect the rights to freedom of expression and freedom of assembly in Swaziland, as set out in the Swazi Constitution, and their international human rights obligations.