152. In the present communication, the relief sought by the Complainants before he Supreme Court was a determination by the Court whether an Act of Parliament, enacted by the Respondent State, violated or was likely to violate their fundamental rights guaranteed under the Constitution, and other international human rights instruments, including the African Charter. According to the Supreme Court, the petition could not be entertained because the Complainants approached the Court withdirty hands. They (the Complainants) had refused to comply with the very law they approached the Court to challenge. The Court thus invoked the equitable doctrine of ‘he who comes to equity must come with clean hands’, and refuse to entertain the Complainants’ request for the Court to determine the constitutionality of the Act they were challenging. 153. The question before the Commission is whether the Supreme Court, by invoking the clean hands doctrine, and refusing to entertain the merits of the petition of the Complainants, violated the rights of the Complainants and in effect, the African Charter. Alleged violation of Article 3 154. The Complainants allege the violation of Article 3 of the African Charter. This Article provides that: ‘Every individual shall be equal before the law, and every individual shall be entitled to equal protection of the law “.According to the Complainants, by applying the unclean hands doctrine and refusing to hear the merits of their case, the Supreme Court of Zimbabwe violated the right to equal protection of the law guaranteed under Article 3 of the African Charter. The State did not address itself to this allegation. 155. Article 3 guarantees fair and just treatment of individuals within the legal system of a given country. The aim of this principle is to ensure equality of treatment for individuals irrespective of nationality, sex, racial or ethnic origin, political opinion, religion or belief, disability, age or sexual orientation. 156. The most fundamental meaning of equality before the law provided for under Article 3.1 of the Charter is the right by all to have the same procedures and principles applied under the same conditions. 157. The right to equality before the law means that citizens should expect to be treated fairly and justly within the legal system and be assured of equal treatment before the law and equal enjoyment of the rights available to all other citizens. With respect to Article 3.2 on the right of equal protection of the law, the African Commission in its decision in Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights and the 7 Institute for Human Rights and Development /Republic Of Zimbabwe , relied on the [US] Supreme 8 Court decision in Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka , in which Chief Justice Earl Warren of the United States of America argued that ‘equal protection of the law refers to the right of all persons to have the same access to the law and courts and to be treated equally by the law and courts, both in procedures and in the substance of the law. It is akin to the right to due process of law, but in 9 particular applies to equal treatment as an element of fundamental fairness. . 158. In order for a party to establish a successful claim under Article 3 of the Charter, it should show that, the Respondent State has not given the Complainant the same treatment it accorded to the others in a similar situation. Or that, the Respondent State had accorded favourable treatment to others in the same position as the Complainant. 159. In the present communication, the Commission notes that the Complainants have not demonstrated the extent to which the Courts treated them differently from the Respondent State or from any other party in a similar situation. This seems to be the first instance where the Supreme Court is approached to deal with the kind of matter raised by the Complainants and there is no evidence to indicate that the Complainants were treated differently. The African Commission can therefore not find the Respondent State to have violated the Complainants’ rights under Article 3 of the African Charter. Alleged violation of Article 7 160. With respect to the alleged violation of Article 7 of the African Charter, the Complainants submit that the right to have their cause heard, in particular, the right to an appeal to competent national