UN declares detention of SA engineers in Equatorial Guinea ‘arbitrary and illegal’

The UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention has issued a formal opinion declaring the detention of two SA engineers in Equatorial Guinea arbitrary and illegal and is calling for their immediate release.

Frederik “Frik” Potgieter, 54, and Peter Huxham, 55, who is a dual SA and UK citizen, were arrested in February 2023 at their hotel in the capital, Malabo, shortly before they were due to return to SA after working on offshore oil and gas platforms for the Dutch firm SBM Production Contractors.

They were accused of drug possession, and each sentenced to 12 years behind bars and jointly ordered to pay $10m (R189m) in fines.

Their arrests coincided with the attachment of a super yacht linked to Equatorial Guinea’s vice-president, Teodoro Nguema Obiang, who has been fighting for the return of two upmarket Cape Town properties that were attached by the Western Cape High Court several years ago.

The attachments are linked to a legal skirmish with SA business person Daniel Janse van Rensburg, who won a civil claim for damages against Obiang after being wrongfully imprisoned in Equatorial Guinea.

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

“As families, we believe their arrests were in retaliation for SA courts having seized the luxury properties and super yacht belonging to the vice-president of Equatorial Guinea, the latter two days prior to Frik and Peter’s arrest. We have also known their arrests and detention are illegal, and feel deeply vindicated by the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention’s declaration that their arrests and detention are unlawful.

“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 SA 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 their suffering, and the time stolen from their lives, ends and they are brought back home to their families in SA.”

Equatorial Guinea is a signatory to the UN International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. Arbitrary detention occurs when someone is arrested and detained by a government without due process and without the legal protections of a fair trial, or when an individual is detained without any legal basis for deprivation of liberty.

The families have also requested the formal assistance of the pan-African parliament to secure the men’s urgent release.

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