UN panel rejects plea by Brazil’s Lula over imprisonment

GENEVA: The United Nations Human Rights Committee has denied a request by Brazil’s ex-president Lula da Silva seeking emergency action against his imprisonment, a spokeswoman said on Wednesday.

Lula, currently serving a 12-year sentence over corruption, asked the committee to impose so-called "interim measures" -- a step the UN panel only takes when there is evidence an accused person is facing grave, irreparable harm.

"The Human Rights Committee will not grant interim measures in the case of Lula da Silva," rights office spokeswoman Julia Gronnevet told AFP in an email. Lula’s appeal for the extraordinary measures, made ahead of his incarceration last month, was filed as an addition to his broader case against Brazil over the circumstances of his graft conviction.

In 2016, the leftist politician asked the UN rights committee to study whether his rights had been violated as authorities investigated a corruption scheme during his two terms in office, which ran from 2003 to 2010.