AFRICAN UNION aa a UNION AFRICAINE alatyi UNIAO AFRICANA AFRICAN COURT ON HUMAN AND PEOPLES’ RIGHTS COUR AFRICAINE DES DROITS DE L’HOMME ET DES PEUPLES DISSENTING OPINION JUDGE RAFAA BEN ACHOUR 1. I subscribe to most of the reasoning and decisions of the Court in the Matter of Mohamed Abubakari versus the United Republic of Tanzania (Application 007/2013). 2. However, I am unable to go along with the majority of members of the Court on two issues which, in my view, are important: - The first issue relates to the refusal of the Court to order the release of the prisoner who is currently serving 30 years prison sentence pronounced by the Moshi District Court on 21 July 1998. I had expressed similar disagreement on this point in the Matter of Alex Thomas!. - The second issue relates to the absence of publicity of the trial due to the fact that the Applicant’s conviction was pronounced in the chamber of a judge; which in my view constitutes a serious breach of the principle of publicity of proceedings in general, and criminal proceedings in particular. I - Refusal of the Court to order the release of the prisoner 3. As in the Matter of Alex Thomas’, the Applicant (Mohamed Abubakari) alleges the violation of several of his rights, upon his arrest, during his remand and indeed in the course of his trial’. 4. In light of the said allegations, the Court rightly held that the Respondent State “violated Article 7 of the Charter and Article 14 of the Covenant as regards the 1 Judgment of 20 November 2015 2 Idem 3 Cf. paragraph 5 of the Judgment ;