Mr X is a Congolese man who was living in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. In early June 2006, he lost his passport. He went to the Tanzanian police to register the loss of his passport and to the DRC embassy to request for a new passport. But on 9 June 2006, Tanzanian authorities arrested him, his wife and their two sons for residing illegally in the country – despite the fact that he presented the certificate of loss of his passport, which contained a visa to stay in the country until September 2006, and the official correspondence from the embassy of his country to Tanzania confirming that he was in the process of obtaining a new passport.

Mr X was brought to prison along with his family. Upon arrival, he was subjected to an anal search in front of his children, and they were all put in cells. They were detained for 5 days before being released, thanks to the intervention of the DRC embassy.

His family was ordered to leave the country just a few days later while he was allowed to stay in Tanzania during judicial proceedings to determine whether he is an illegal immigrant. Seven years later, after matter concluded before Tanzanian courts, he was ordered to leave Tanzania too. Having no other available legal avenue left, he submitted a complaint to the African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights in 2015.

Read ful article: Case of an immigrant mistreated by the judicial and prison system in Tanzania

Photo by Milad Fakurian on Unsplash