Ben Keith of 5 St Andrew’s Hill, alongside Rhys Davies of Temple Garden Chambers, has secured a landmark judgment at the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights (ACHPR), which has found Uganda responsible for torture, arbitrary detention, and denial of due process of Rwandan national Acléo Kalinga.
The Commission found Uganda in violation of multiple provisions of the African Charter, including the right to dignity, the right not to be subjected to torture or cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment, the right to liberty and security of the person, and the right to a fair trial. It ordered Uganda to conduct an impartial investigation, prosecute perpetrators, provide compensation and an apology, and implement anti-torture safeguards in line with international standards.
Mr Kalinga, a Rwandan national, was abducted by Ugandan security forces in 2005 and subjected to horrific treatment during nearly two years in secret detention. Medical evidence shows lifelong physical and psychological harm. His case was filed in 2009 by REDRESS, the World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT) and the International Rehabilitation Council for Torture Victims (IRCT), but judgment was only delivered in 2024 and published in 2025, highlighting systemic delays in the regional human rights system. In 2021, International Human Rights Advisors assumed conduct of the case at the request of REDRESS due to the legal complexities and concerns about reprisals against Mr Kalinga.
For Mr Kalinga, the ruling brings long-awaited recognition of his suffering at the hands of the Ugandan authorities. For victims across Africa, it sets an important precedent, reaffirming the absolute prohibition of torture under the African Charter and establishing that victims cannot be required to exhaust domestic remedies where the state itself is implicated in abuses.
The decision, delivered in March 2024 and published in August 2025, concludes one of the Commission’s longest-running cases, highlighting the systemic challenges victims face in Africa’s human rights framework.
"Our aim was to ensure that the Commission finally addressed the grave violations our client endured, and to press for accountability from Uganda. The fact that it took sixteen years for this judgment to be delivered shows the scale of the problem: justice delayed is justice denied."
Ben Keith commented
Gratitude to Sian Priory of 5SAH for assisting in this case.
Case documents
Acleo Kalinga v. Uganda, African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights, Communication 376/09; Available to download here.
Ben Keith is a leading barrister specialising in cross-border and international cases. He deals with all aspects of extradition, immigration, human rights, mutual legal assistance, Interpol, financial crime and international law, including sanctions. He represents governments, political and military leaders, high net worth individuals, human rights defenders and business leaders in the most sensitive cases. He is a leading authority on the removal of Interpol Red Notices for worldwide clients. He edits the Red Notice Monitor blog.
Ben has extensive experience of appellate proceedings before the Administrative and Divisional Courts, Civil and Criminal Divisions of the Court of Appeal and the Supreme Court as well as applications and appeals to the European Court of Human Rights and the United Nations.
Ben has significant expertise in post-soviet states, as well the Middle East and the Far East.
He is ranked in Chambers and Partners as a star leader in the field of extradition at the London Bar and in The Legal 500 as a Tier 1 leading individual in extradition. Ben is also ranked in Chambers and Partners in the field of immigration and in its Financial Crime: High Net Worth Individuals rankings. He is recognised in The Spears’ 500 2024 Guide as a ‘Recommended Immigration Law Barrister’.
