Mario Masuku, the leader of Swaziland's People's United Democratic Movement (Pudemo), is currently being tried for sedition.

Masuku is facing two charges of sedition in which he is accused of calling for a revolution against the monarchy and the government and for calling for the overthrowing of King Mswati III from the throne. He is alleged to have committed these offences between September and November 2000 in Manzini and Mbabane respectively during unlawful political rallies.

Masuku has been languishing in custody since October last year after he forced his own detention by breaking the terms of his bail in a bid for a speedy trial. He has been denied medical treatment for diabetes and hypertension and relatives fear he could die.

Swaziland lives under a monarchist dictatorship and political parties have been banned since 1973, after King Sobhuzo II scrapped the Westminster-based constitution under pressure from apartheid South Africa. Next month, the government will propose a new constitution which is expected to reaffirm the supremacy and absolute power of the King, thereby crushing the last remnants of constitutional democratic government.

Pudemo, the main opposition party, operates from exile in South Africa and is campaigning for democratisation in Swaziland.

Show your solidarity with Mario Masuku and Pudemo by writing to the South Africa-based Swaziland Solidarity Network:  ssn@union.org.za

All messages of solidarity will be passed to Pudemo comrades and Mario Masuku.

Keep up to date with the trial by visiting the independent Simunye news service:  http://www.swazis.org.uk/~news/