Botswana: Professor deported

IFEX - News from the international freedom of expression community
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ALERT UPDATE - BOTSWANA

3 June 2005

Professor deported

SOURCE: International Press Institute (IPI), Vienna

**Updates IFEX alerts of 1 June, 1 March and 28 February 2005; for further
information on the Meldrum case, see alerts of 13 June, 28, 21, 16 and 9 May
2003, and others**

(IPI/IFEX) - The following is an IPI press release:

Vienna, 3 June 2005

IPI Condemns Deportation of Professor Kenneth Good from Botswana, Says
Decision Undermines Country's Position as One of Africa's Freest

Based on information provided to IPI, on 1 June, Professor Kenneth Good, a
political science lecturer at the University of Botswana for the past 15
years, was deported from the country by legal order and a decree from
President Festus Mogae.

Good's deportation came only hours after the Lobatse High Court upheld the
government's right to deport him. In their judgement, the three High Court
Judges dismissed the arguments of Good's lawyer given on 3 May and said the
deportation order and presidential decree should be allowed to stand.

Upon hearing the High Court's decision, the judges refused a two-day stay of
execution in order to appeal. In reaching this decision, the court said that
Good could appeal when outside of the country. In his remarks to the court,
Good's lawyer said his immediate deportation would lead to his daughter
being withdrawn from her senior secondary school, an act that would severely
curtail her studies.

Once the order of the court was given, Good was detained, taken to an
unknown location and then driven to Sir Seretse Khama Airport. With security
personnel travelling with him, Good was placed on a 7 p.m. flight to
Johannesburg where he was to take an onward flight to his native Australia.

The deportation is the direct result of a speech that Good had been prepared
to deliver at a public meeting at the University of Botswana on 23 February.
It apparently contained highly critical comments of the conduct of Mogae and
Vice-President Ian Khama. On 18 February, Good received an order stating he
should leave the country.

"Good's deportation is disturbingly similar to the enforced May 2003
deportation of Guardian journalist Andrew Meldrum from Zimbabwe, one of the
most repressive countries in Africa," said IPI Director Johann P. Fritz.

"I am stunned by the court's decision to force Good to leave the country
part-way through the legal process and on the flimsy legal basis that his
defence can be as effective in Australia as it could be in Botswana. As a
result, Good has been denied the right to appear before the court in person
and hear legal argument."

"In addition, the exhaustion of the due process before deportation is a
right that is afforded to both refugees and asylum seekers in most countries
and it seems to me in denying Good this right, the court is merely carrying
out the wishes of the President to remove him from the country as quickly as
possible."

"Botswana is considered to be one of the freest countries in Africa for
freedom of expression; however, by deporting Good the government is not only
curtailing the right of individuals to speak freely in accordance with
Article 19 of the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights, but
undermining this hard won reputation. I would call on the government to
allow Good to return to the country immediately," said Fritz.

For further information, contact IPI at Spiegelgasse 2/29, A-1010 Vienna,
Austria, tel: +43 1 512 90 11, fax: +43 1 512 90 14, e-mail: Michael Kudlak
at [email protected], Diana Orlova at [email protected], or David Dadge
at [email protected], Internet site: http://www.freemedia.at

The information contained in this alert update is the sole responsibility of
IPI. In citing this material for broadcast or publication, please credit
IPI.
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