10
administration of justice."7In the present Communication, no disparaging language
has been used and thus complies with the provisions of Article.
44. Article 56(4)of the African Charter states that "Communications relating to human
and Peoples' Rights ... shall be considered if they arenot based exclusively on news
disseminated through the mass media". In shedding more light to this provision,
the Commission averred that "the issue therefore should not be whether the
information was gotten from the media, but whether the information is correct' and
whether the complainant tried to verify.the
truth':t1his interpretation from Jawara
~
. 1
was adopted with approval in Ahmed ISmael and ~~~Others v.fhe Arab Republic
of Egypt." The Complainant has submitted diffep:~lfti
forms of evidence including
eyewitness accounts, witness statements and ph0tbgraphs. The Communication
does not rely on the media but also includes evidence as required by the
Commissions' jurisprudence, it thus complies with,,,,56(4).
-",..zy,,,.~6
45. Article 56(5)of the African Charter states that "Communications relating to human
and Peoples' Rights ... shall be considered if they are sent after exhausting local
remedies, if any, unless it is obvious that this procedure is unduly prolonged." The
Commission requires exhaustion. of local remedies where they are available,
effective and sufficient to redressjthe alleged violation.T? An available remedy is
one where 'the petitioner can puisue it without impedimentt'An effective remedy
will be one th~t 'offers a prospe~t'of success.T'A remedy will be sufficient 'if it is
capable of redre!ssing the complaint.'13
I
46. In the present case, the complainant did not make any submissions on admissibility
but more specifically on compliance with Article 56(5). In every subsequent
submission ':ljJ,(lde,the complainant did not demonstrate exhaustion of local
"i'!T'
remedies. Moreover, further to the absence of any cogent averments to that effect,
there is evidence to suggest that the complainant did not exhaust local remedies.
There are several domestic court cases that were pending at the time of the
submission of the complainant. These domestic cases were all in the High Court
and Commercial Court, these matters are 2019/HP /1859, 2014/HP /0057;