The IBAHRI Co-Chairs go on to state that the current situation in Malawi ‘…challenges the fundamental rights of lawyers to protect them from bullying, harassment and intimidation, and also the principle of an independent judiciary to which Malawi has shown previous commitment. We expect the DPP to observe and respect the rule of law, and challenge this decision through their pending appeal with the Supreme Court of Appeal, rather than through the intimidation of the judges of their Constitutional Court.’
The penultimate paragraph of the letter to President Mutharika from the IBAHRI ‘urges everyone in Malawi…to abide by due process of law and constitutional government according to law’, stating, ‘this requires respect for the judiciary and obedience to the rule of law. We urge the President of Malawi to respect the judiciary and the courts and allow the legal process to take its course without hindrance and without delay.’
The Constitutional Court judges have ordered a rerun of the poll to take place within 150 days of the 3 February 2020 ruling.
ENDS
Notes to the Editor
-
Click here to view further items related to the IBAHRI’s work in Malawi:
www.ibanet.org/Human_Rights_Institute/Work_by_regions/Africa/Malawi
-
The International Bar Association (IBA), established in 1947, is the world’s leading organisation of international legal practitioners, bar associations and law societies. Through its global membership of individual lawyers, law firms, bar associations and law societies it influences the development of international law reform and shapes the future of the legal profession throughout the world.
The IBA’s administrative office is in London, United Kingdom. Regional offices are located in: São Paulo, Brazil; Seoul, South Korea; and Washington DC, United States, while the International Bar Association’s International Criminal Court and International Criminal Law Programme (ICC & ICL) is managed from an office in The Hague, the Netherlands.
The International Bar Association’s Human Rights Institute (IBAHRI), an autonomous and financially independent entity, works 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.
For further information please contact: