A UN human rights expert is publicly telling Togo to let a sick prisoner go, highlighting another messy international standoff. Mary Lawlor, the UN Special Rapporteur for human rights defenders, called for the immediate release of Abdoul Aziz Goma, a Togolese-Irish activist jailed in Lomé for seven years. She pointed out Togo's own laws allow for conditional release after half a sentence is served, and cited new clemency criteria from the country's own officials, arguing Goma's severe neurological damage and failing health should qualify.
The guy was originally arrested back in 2018 for just giving shelter to some protesters, not even joining the demonstrations himself. His treatment since has been brutal, featuring secret detention for years, a rushed one-day trial that landed him a decade in prison for national security charges, and reported torture like electric shocks in the notorious Lomé Civil Prison. The case stinks of a political crackdown, especially after those constitutional reforms last year that let President Faure Gnassingbé, in power for nearly two decades, cling to control under a new parliamentary system.
International bodies like the European Parliament have also demanded his release, calling his detention arbitrary and a sign of the crumbling rule of law in Togo. The whole situation paints a picture of a government using the legal system to disappear critics, ignoring its own rules and international obligations, while the prisoner literally wastes away from deliberate medical neglect.
The guy was originally arrested back in 2018 for just giving shelter to some protesters, not even joining the demonstrations himself. His treatment since has been brutal, featuring secret detention for years, a rushed one-day trial that landed him a decade in prison for national security charges, and reported torture like electric shocks in the notorious Lomé Civil Prison. The case stinks of a political crackdown, especially after those constitutional reforms last year that let President Faure Gnassingbé, in power for nearly two decades, cling to control under a new parliamentary system.
International bodies like the European Parliament have also demanded his release, calling his detention arbitrary and a sign of the crumbling rule of law in Togo. The whole situation paints a picture of a government using the legal system to disappear critics, ignoring its own rules and international obligations, while the prisoner literally wastes away from deliberate medical neglect.
