Mbabane – The widow of an anti-monarchist opposition activist murdered last year has been arrested and questioned in Eswatini, the former Swaziland, a human rights group said on Thursday.
Rights lawyer Thulani Maseko was shot dead as he watched television with his children at their home in the landlocked southern African nation on January 21, 2023.
His wife Tanele Maseko “was detained by King Mswati III’s police at about 2140 hours on Wednesday night,” human rights lawyer Sibusiso Nhlabatsi of the Multi-Stakeholders Forum (MSF) told AFP.
She was told at a border post that “she could not be let back into Eswatini as she was flagged as the most wanted person by the Eswatini government,” said Nhlabatsi, adding her release came four hours later.
Her mobile phones and travel documents were confiscated and she was ordered to report to police at noon Thursday, said the MSF’s Mary Da Silva.
Contacted by AFP, Eswatini police declined to comment.
An inquiry was opened into the killing, but no results have been announced, with NGOs saying it was a political affair.
The United Nations led international calls for an independent investigation.
Hours before Maseko’s killing, absolute monarch Mswati III, who has ruled since 1986, had warned activists who defied him not to “shed tears” about “mercenaries killing them”.
Maseko led a broad coalition of political and civic rights and religious groups created to foster dialogue with the king.
In 2021, Eswatini was shaken by pro-democracy protests and dozens of people died in the subsequent crackdown by security forces.
As a senior member of a banned opposition party, Maseko also had a pending court battle with the king over his decision to rename the country.
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Source: AFP
Picture: Twitter/@nonodlamz
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