Rabaju Yusuph vs United Republic of Tanzania
On November 08th, 2017, Mr Rabaju Yusuph, applicant, filed an application instituting proceedings before the African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights (the Court or the ACHPR) against the United Republic of Tanzania for alleged violations of the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights (the Charter) in its Articles 2, 3 and 7.
Mr. Yusuph, a Tanzanian national, had been tried and convicted by the Tabora District Court for rape of a minor. The judgement was upheld successively before the High Court and the Tabora Court of Appeal in 2005 and 2009. At the time of the filing of the proceedings before the African Court, he was serving his life sentence in Uyui Central Prison.
On November 21st, 2019, the Republic of Tanzania deposited the instruments of withdrawal of the Court’s declaration of jurisdiction to receive applications from individuals and non-governmental organizations. In issuing its decision on March 24th, 2022, the Court has been faithful to its consistent jurisprudence of dealing with all cases enrolled in the Registry before the date of entry into force of the withdrawal of the declaration.
Tanzania raised objections relating to the lack of jurisdiction of the Court and the inadmissibility of the application. After examining the pleas in law, the Court declared that it had jurisdiction to hear the case. With regard to admissibility, it examined in turn all the criteria listed in article 50 of the Rules of Court and concluded that the application had not been lodged within a reasonable time and was therefore not admissible.
This summary is provided for informational purposes only, does not involve the responsibility of Dome and should in no way be used as a substitute for a careful reading of the judgment and order of the case.
