Court orders re-arrest of alleged human trafficker

Two days after a Sudanese man's state of arrest was declared illegal by the Magistrates' Court, the Criminal Court overturned the decision and ordered his re-arrest.

On December 8, 2005, Gamil Abu Bakr was arraigned before the Magistrates' Court where he is pleading not guilty to conspiracy and human trafficking.

Since then his compilation of evidence has been going on in the same court.

During a sitting on December 15, 2005, the prosecution added on the charge of relapsing to the charges brought against Mr Abu Bakr but, that day, the charges were not read out, under oath, in court again and Mr Abu Bakr was not re-examined and asked to repeat his plea.

When the magistrate sent the case documents to the Attorney General's (AG) office, the AG sent the documents back to the Magistrates' Court requesting that the charges be read out in court and that Mr Abu Bakr be re-examined.

Then, during a sitting last Thursday, Mr Abu Bakr's lawyer argued that his client's state of arrest was now illegal as the time allowed by law for a person to be held under arrest, before the charges were sworn in court, had expired.

The magistrate upheld the request and ordered Mr Abu Bakr's release. Two days later, on Saturday, the AG filed an application in the Criminal Court requesting his re-arrest.

Chief Justice Vincent De Gaetano, presiding over the court, noted that the Magistrates' Court may have understood that the re-examination of the accused would mean that a new compilation of evidence was starting. But this was not the case and the case against Mr Abu Bakr was continuing.

He ordered Mr Abu Bakr's re-arrest.