TheCable

The South African supreme court sitting on the appeal of convicted leader of the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND), Henry Okah, has adjourned the appeal indefinitely.

Okah had filed an appeal questioning the jurisdiction of a South African court to try him in the first place.

The supreme court suspended the appeal pending the time his legal team amended their argument on the matter brought before the court.

Okah was convicted of a 13-count charge of terrorism relating to the October 1, 2010 bombings at the Eagle Square in Abuja, during which 12 people were killed and 36 injured, as well as other explosions in Delta state earlier in March 2010.

In March 2013, Neels Claasen, a judge of the South Gauteng high court, sentenced Okah to 24 years in prison before he filed a three-point application seeking leave to appeal against the jurisdiction of the court to hear counts one to 12, duplication of charges with regard to counts three to eight, as well as his conviction on count 13 regarding his alleged threat to engage in terrorist activity.

A panel of five judges which heard the appeal on Wednesday said the arguments and presentations of the appellant’s lawyers did not properly challenge the relevant Act 33 of 2004, which concerns the protection of constitutional democracy against terrorist activities.