General Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo
Presidente de la República
Gabinete del Presidente de la República,
Malabo, Equatorial Guinea

Fax: + 240 09 3313/ 3334

15 February 2008

Your Excellency,

Re: Brigida Asongsua Elo

We are writing on behalf of the Human Rights Institute of the International Bar Association in connection with the arrest and detention without warrant or charge of Brigida Asongsua Elo who is currently being held at the Malabo Central Police Station.  

In its role as a dual membership organisation, comprising 30,000 individual lawyers and over 195 Bar Associations and Law Societies, the International Bar Association (IBA) influences the development of international law reform and shapes the future of the legal profession. Its Member Organisations cover all continents. The IBA’s Human Rights Institute works across the association, helping to promote, protect and enforce human rights under a just rule of law, and to preserve the independence of the judiciary and the legal profession worldwide.

We have recently received reports that, after attending a morning mass at the Cathedral in Malabo on 17 January 2008, Ms Asongsua Elo was arrested by two police officers in civilian clothes and taken to Malabo Central Police Station where she is currently being held without charge. The arrest allegedly followed a visit made by Ms Asongsua Elo to her husband in Black Beach Prison on 15 January. Mr Asongsua Elo is currently serving a 20 year sentence in Black Beach Prison for an alleged coup attempt in 2002.

Reports indicate that Ms Asongsua Elo has been detained without warrant and has not yet been accused or charged with any offence. The IBAHRI is further concerned that the conditions of Ms Asongsua Elo’s detention do not comply with international standards.  For instance, it is alleged that Ms Asongsua Elo is being held in a common cell with 70 – 100 male detainees in unsanitary conditions and without access to any bathroom facilities. Furthermore, it appears that Ms Asongsua Elo has not been permitted access to her lawyer. On 21 January 2008, Ms Asongsua Elo’s lawyer filed a writ of habeas corpus on her behalf with the Tribunal de Instrucción y Primera Instancia.  We are concerned to learn that no response has yet been received from the Tribunal to this urgent petition.

The facts of this case raise a number of concerns in connection with the legal rights of Ms Asongsua Elo in particular and the human rights protection guaranteed to all citizens of the Republic of Equatorial Guinea. According to Article 8 of its Constitution, Equatorial Guinea is required to respect the principles of international law and confirms its commitment to the rights and obligations that are set down by the Charter of the International Organisations to which it is a member.  Furthermore, Article 13 ensures a number of rights and liberties to all citizens, including the right to a fair trial, the right to freedom of expression, the right to habeas corpus, the right to legal representation, the right to be given reasons for detention, and the presumption of innocence.  These are essential core rights.

We would also like to draw your attention to Equatorial Guinea’s obligations as a state party to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR). Under Article 9 of the ICCPR Ms Asongsua Elo is guaranteed the right to liberty and security of person and should not be subject to arbitrary arrest or detention. She is also entitled to be informed of the reason for her arrest promptly at the time of her arrest and must be brought immediately before the appropriate judicial authorities. If it is found that any of the above rights have been violated, then Ms Asongsua Elo has an enforceable right to compensation. Furthermore, Article 7 of the ICCPR and Article 5 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which is commonly considered to form part of customary international law, uphold that no human being should be subject to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment. There are grave concerns that the conditions of Ms Asongsua Elo’s detention at Malabo Central Police Station may be in breach of this right.

We would therefore request that Ms Asongsua Elo be released immediately and unconditionally unless she is charged with a criminal offence and that she is permitted access to legal representation. We would also request that, in the event that Ms Asongsua Elo continues to be detained unlawfully or is finally charged with a criminal offence, she should as a matter of urgency be moved to appropriate detention facilities, entirely separate from men, in accordance with the Rule 8 (a) of the United Nations Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners, which states  categorically that 8. The different categories of prisoners shall be kept in separate institutions or parts of institutions taking account of their sex, age, criminal record, the legal reason for their detention and the necessities of their treatment. Thus,
(a) Men and women shall so far as possible be detained in separate institutions; in an institution which receives both men and women the whole of the premises allocated to women shall be entirely separate

Given the precarious situation Ms Asongsua Elo is alleged to be in, we should be grateful to receive your assurances that our concerns will be duly investigated as a matter of the utmost urgency. 

Yours sincerely,

Justice Richard Goldstone
Ambassador Emilio Cárdenas
Human Rights Institute Co-chairs

CC:     Sr. Don José Oló Obono, Attorney General; 
           Sr Don Manuel Nguema Mba, Minister of National Security;
           Sr Don Salomón Nguema Owono, President of the Parliamentary Human Rights
           Commission