The International Commission of Jurists has intervened in a row between King Mswati of Swaziland and the country's judiciary and lawyers over what amounts to the king's droit de seigneur. The ICJ works to uphold the rule of law and the legal protection of human rights internationally.
In a letter sent yesterday to the king the ICJ asked him to uphold the independence of the judiciary. This follows the resignation last Saturday of the six South African judges on Swaziland's Court of Appeal, and a threatened strike of the country's lawyers in protest at the refusal of the king to recognise a judgment.
The conflict between the King and the judiciary has its origins in a episode when agents of King Mswati seized a teenage girl whom he wished to make his ninth wife, and habeas corpus proceedings were instituted to obtain her release. The girl had earlier, along with a large number of other adolescents, participated in the annual Reed Dance coming out ceremony, and had been seen by the king, who made his wishes known. She fled, but was later found and seized by his agents. The habeas corpus application was heard by three judges, who on November 1st were told to terminate the proceedings or they would be removed from office. They said they would deal with the case on its merits, and proceeded to hear it.
The Swazi government said it was not prepared to allow judges to take from the king powers the nation had granted him. Last month the International Bar Association Forum for Barristers and Advocates, which also represents the Bar of Ireland, condemned the threat to the Swazi government's threat to the judiciary.