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UN demands release of SA engineers held in Equatorial Guinea

UN demands release of SA engineers held in Equatorial Guinea
Supporters of Frik Potgieter and Peter Huxham, the two South African engineers detained in Equatorial Guinea, protest at the Pan-African Parliament in Midrand inJune 2024.(Photo: Supplied)
Peter Fabricius
By Peter Fabricius
2 Jul 2024
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The UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention effectively rejected the drug charges against Frik Potgieter and Peter Huxham as bogus.

The United Nations (UN) Working Group on Arbitrary Detention has issued a Formal Opinion that the detention of Frederik (Frik) Potgieter (a 54-year-old South African citizen) and Peter Huxham (a 55-year-old dual SA/UK citizen) in Equatorial Guinea is arbitrary and illegal, and is calling for their immediate release.

The UN group’s opinion, issued on Tuesday, 2 July, confirms its view that the two engineers are innocent of the drug charges which Equatorial Guinea brought against them in February last year and that their continuing detention is a grave violation of various international human rights conventions.

The UN group said: “The deprivation of liberty of Mr Huxham and Mr Potgieter is arbitrary in that it is contrary to Articles 3, 9, 10 and 11 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and Articles 9, 14 and 15 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and falls within categories I and III.”

Equatorial Guinea has signed both of these instruments.

Read more in Daily Maverick: Families of two South Africans jailed in Equatorial Guinea launch ‘Free Frik and Peter’ campaign

un sa men equatorial guinea Jolene Potgieter supports her mom, Sonja (Frik Potgieter’s wife), while supporters protest at the Pan-African Parliament in Midrand against the detention in Equatorial Guinea of Potgieter and Peter Huxham. (Photo: Supplied)



The Working Group’s website explains that detention is considered arbitrary under its Category 1 – “When it is clearly impossible to invoke any legal basis justifying the deprivation of liberty…”

Detention is considered arbitrary under Category 3: “When the total or partial non-observance of the international norms relating to the right to a fair trial, spelled out in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and in the relevant international instruments accepted by the States concerned, is of such gravity as to give the deprivation of liberty an arbitrary character.”

“The Working Group requests the government of Equatorial Guinea to take the necessary steps to remedy the situation of Mr Huxham and Mr Potgieter without delay and to bring it into conformity with applicable international standards, in particular those set forth in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the Covenant.

“The Working Group considers that, taking into account all the circumstances of the case, the appropriate measure would be to release Mr Huxham and Mr Potgieter immediately and to grant them the right to obtain reparation, including compensation, in accordance with international law.

“The Working Group urges the government to ensure that a thorough and independent investigation is carried out into the circumstances of the arbitrary deprivation of liberty of Mr Huxham and Mr Potgieter, and to take appropriate action against those responsible for the violation of their rights.”

The Working Group on Arbitrary Detention, a division of the UN Human Rights Council based in Geneva, has no powers such as sanctions to enforce its rulings.

However, its decisions about what is internationally acceptable behaviour carry the moral clout of bearing the stamp of a United Nations body.

Bring them home


Francois Nigrini and Shaun Murphy, spokespersons for the Huxham and Potgieter families, say: “There has never been a shred of doubt about Frik and Peter’s innocence. The families, Frik and Peter’s employer and the South African government have always believed in their innocence.  

“As families, we believe that their arrests were in retaliation for South African courts having seized the luxury properties and superyacht belonging to the Vice President of Equatorial Guinea; the latter just two days prior to Frik and Peter’s arrest.

“We have also known that their arrests and detention are illegal, and so feel deeply vindicated by the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention’s declaration that their arrests and detention are unlawful.

un sa men equatorial guinea Supporters of Frik Potgieter and Peter Huxham, the two South African engineers detained in Equatorial Guinea, protest at the Pan-African Parliament in Midrand in June 2024. (Photo: Supplied)



“There should never be a time when one country condones the unlawful action taken against citizens of another country, and we will be leaning firmly on both South Africa and the UK to take firm, decisive and immediate action to release the men.

“Frik and Peter’s unlawful and illegal arrest in that country shows there is scant regard for human rights and the rule of law. They are innocent pawns in an international spat between two countries and have suffered great hardship for almost 17 months as a consequence. 

“It’s time that their suffering, and the time stolen from their lives, ends and they are brought back home to their families in South Africa.”

The families also handed over a formal request to the Presidency of the Pan-African Parliament on 24 June 2024, asking the institution to intervene to secure the men’s urgent release. They also held a peaceful protest outside the premises. The Pan-African Parliament is the legislative and oversight arm of the African Union and is based in Midrand, South Africa.

Read more in Daily Maverick: Families of SA ‘hostages’ in Equatorial Guinea plead for Pan-African Parliament intervention

Diplomatic crossfire


Potgieter and Huxham were working in Equatorial Guinea for a global oil and gas company when they were arrested on what their families say were fabricated drug charges in February 2023.

They were arrested just two days after the South African courts seized a luxury superyacht belonging to Equatorial Guinea’s Vice President, Teodoro Nguema Obiang Mangue. Earlier, the South African courts had also seized Obiang’s two luxury Cape Town villas.

These assets were seized following a court ruling in South Africa on a separate matter, completely unrelated to Huxham and Potgieter. Even though the superyacht has been released, the villas remain impounded in South Africa – and the men remain in prison in Equatorial Guinea.

“Frik and Peter are caught in the diplomatic and political crossfire between South Africa and Equatorial Guinea,” their families said. 

They were tried in June 2023 in Equatorial Guinea. 

“No credible evidence, witnesses or expert testimonies were presented to the court by the State, nor was any proof presented that the alleged drugs were found on the two men, or that indeed there were drugs,” the families said.

“It was alleged that the drugs were found in their luggage; however, their luggage, combination-locked and unopened, was still in their rooms five days later, when their employer collected it in the presence of hotel management and the local police. The accused’s attorneys were also not given the opportunity to challenge or argue the prosecutor’s allegations.

“After this sham trial, the men each received a 12-year prison sentence and are being held in a prison reserved for political prisoners in Mongomo. They were also ordered to pay $5-million each in damages, and additional fines to be shared between them. The sentences were based on outdated penalties for the alleged crimes, indicating an unsettling departure from the country’s new criminal code.” DM

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