SA woman convicted of drug-peddling languishing in Botswana prison

ISAIAH MOREWAGAE
Staff Writer | Tuesday January 8, 2013 00:00

A convicted drug peddler, Nomathemba Dlamini was travelling en route to her home country in December when Interpol arrested her in connection with another alleged drug related offence in the South American country. At the time of her arrest in Botswana, Dlamini had just been released from a Turkish prison where she was convicted for 11 years for drug trafficking. Dlamini however served only four years of the sentence. Her attorney Friday Leburu has condemned the continued incarceration of Dlamini, arguing that there is no legal basis to keep her in prison.

Leburu argued that Argentina is not a CommonWealth member, nor do they have any extradition treaty that the country can rely on to arrest and subsequently extradite Dlamini to Argentina. On the other hand, State Prosecutor Priscilla Israel was adamant that the country is empowered by its international obligations to arrest fugitives on red notice. Israel further told court that the charge sheet and other relevant documents had arrived from Argentina.Magistrate Cele Motlaleng remanded Dlamini until January 21. It is expected that the state will file documents from Argentina before court and serve the defence before the next court appearance.