Definitive Report - Report No 101, 1968

Case No 421 (United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland) - Complaint date: 23-NOV-64 - Closed

1. 52. The Committee has already submitted interim reports on this case to the Governing Body in paragraphs 194 to 203 of its 81st Report, paragraphs 516 to 524 of its 85th Report, paragraphs 277 to 284 of its 87th Report, paragraphs 255 to 262 of its 90th Report, paragraphs 234 to 242 of its 93rd Report and paragraphs 188 to 194 of its 98th Report.
2. 53. The United Kingdom has ratified the Right of Association (Non-Metropolitan Territories) Convention, 1947 (No. 84), the Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organise Convention, 1948 (No. 87), and the Right to Organise and Collective Bargaining Convention, 1949 (No. 98), and has declared them to be applicable without modification to Aden.

A. A. The complainants' allegations

1. 54. When the Committee last examined the case, at its meeting in May 1967, it had before it a communication dated 14 February 1967 from the Government in which it noted that, of the nine trade union leaders originally arrested, only Mr. Faruq Mohammed Abdul Rahman Makkawi, whose case the Government stated was continuing to receive consideration, had not yet been released.
2. 55. The Committee therefore recommended the Governing Body in paragraph 194 of its 98th Report:
   • (a) to take note of the Government's statement that one of the detained trade unionists, Mr. Ahmed Haidra, has been released, and that the case of the one still remaining in detention, Mr. Faruq Mohammed Abdul Rahman Makkawi, continues to receive consideration;
   • (b) to draw the attention of the Government once again to the importance which the Governing Body attaches to the observance of the right of all detained persons to receive a fair trial at the earliest possible moment;
   • (c) to draw attention again to the fact that Mr. Faruq Mohammed Abdul Rahman Makkawi has been held without trial since August 1964, a situation which appears to be incompatible with the generally accepted principle enunciated in subparagraph (b) above;
   • (d) to express the hope that, in accordance with the said principle, the trade unionist in question will either be released or brought to trial at the earliest possible moment;
   • (e) to request the Government to be good enough to inform the Governing Body, as a matter of urgency, as to what steps it is intended to take in this connection;
   • (f) to take note of the present interim report, it being understood that the Committee will report further to the Governing Body when the information referred to in subparagraph (e) above has been received.
3. 56. These recommendations were approved by the Governing Body at its 169th Session (June 1967), and the request for further information contained in subparagraph (e) of the paragraph quoted above was brought to the notice of the Government by a letter dated 12 June 1967. The Government replied by two communications dated respectively 15 August and 17 October 1967.
4. 57. In the first of these communications, after repeating its statement that Mr. Makkawi was detained for reasons not connected with his trade union activities, the Government stated that his case was still receiving consideration. In its second communication the Government stated that Mr. Makkawi had been released on 1 September 1967.

The Committee's recommendations

1. 58. In these circumstances the Committee recommends the Governing Body:
   • (a) to recall the importance which should be attached to the principle that all detained persons should be entitled to prompt and fair trial with the guarantees of proper judicial procedure and to express the opinion that the extended detention of persons without trial does not appear compatible with that principle;
   • (b) subject to the above observation, to decide nevertheless that, as all the persons concerned in this case have now been released, there would be no point in pursuing its examination of the case.