equal protection of the law; Article 7(1)(c) on the right to fair trial; and Article 107A (2)(b) of the Constitution of the United Republic of Tanzania, 1977 on the dispensation of justice within a reasonable time. The Court notes that these rights are protected by an international instrument to which the Respondent State is a Party. 28. The Court recalls its established jurisprudence that, “it is not an appellate body with respect to decisions of national courts”.11 However “…this does not preclude it from examining relevant proceedings in the national courts in order to determine whether they are in accordance with the standards set out in the Charter or any other human rights instruments ratified by the State concerned.”12 In this regard, therefore, it would not be sitting as an appellate court, if it were to examine the allegations by the Applicant. Consequently, the claim that the Court would be sitting as an appellate court in considering the Applicant’s allegations is dismissed. 29. As a consequence of the foregoing, the Court finds that it has material jurisdiction to consider the present Application and dismisses the Respondent State’s objection. B. Objection to temporal jurisdiction 30. The Respondent State contests the temporal jurisdiction of this Court on the basis that the allegations raised by the Applicant are not ongoing, since the Applicant is serving a lawful sentence for the offence committed as provided by its Penal Code. * 31. The Applicant avers that this Court has temporal jurisdiction to hear this Application because the rights violated by the Respondent State are 11 Ernest Francis Mtingwi v. Malawi (jurisdiction) (15 March 2013) 1 AfCLR 190, § 14. Ernest Francis Mtingwi v. Malawi, ibid.; Kenedy Ivan v. United Republic of Tanzania, ACtHPR (merits and reparations) (28 March 2019) 3 AfCLR 48, § 26; Armand Guehi v. Tanzania (merits and reparations) (7 December 2018) 2 AfCLR 477, § 33; Nguza Viking (Babu Seya) and Johnson Nguza (Papi Kocha) v. United Republic of Tanzania (merits) (23 March 2018) 2 AfCLR 287, § 35. 12 9