Cap. 9 Art. 355AJReport of arrest.

(1) Where any person is arrested, whether with or without a warrant, the arresting police officer or his superior shall, as soon as practicable and unless the person arrested has been released within six hours from arrest, inform a Magistrate, giving all details as to time and place where the person is being held.

(2) The Magistrate may order that the person arrested be transferred to another place with immediate effect.

(3) Any person arrested in pursuance of any provision of this Code and who has not been brought before a court within forty-eight hours of his arrest shall be released.

(4) Notwithstanding the provisions of sub-article (3) where the arresting police officer has sufficient reasons for believing that the person arrested has committed a crime liable to a maximum punishment exceeding twelve (12) years imprisonment and that the continuation of the arrest of the person beyond forty-eight (48) hours is necessary to obtain relevant evidence or to preserve relevant evidence, the arresting officer may by means of an application confirmed on oath and supported by information request a Magistrate to issue a warrant authorising the keeping of the person arrested under further detention:

Provided that for the purposes of this sub-article:

"arresting police officer" and "arresting officer" mean a police officer in the grade of Inspector or higher who is in charge of the investigation of the person arrested;

"a crime liable to a maximum punishment exceeding twelve (12) years imprisonment" means a crime liable to a maximum punishment exceeding twelve (12) years imprisonment without considering any increase in punishment due to concurrent crimes and punishments, aggravating circumstances, aggravation of the punishment, any previous conviction or the continuous nature of the crime;

"information" means information about:

(a) the time of arrest and the nature of the crime for which the person under arrest has been arrested;

(b) the evidence on which that person was arrested; and

(c) the special reasons for believing the continued detention of that person to be necessary.

(5) A Magistrate shall not accede to a request filed in accordance with sub-article (4) unless:

(a) the person arrested has been furnished with the information and has been brought before the Magistrate for a hearing; and

(b) the Magistrate is satisfied that the investigation is being conducted diligently and expeditiously.

(6) An application for a warrant in accordance with sub-article

(4) may be made at any time before the expiry of the first thirty-six

(36) hours from the time of arrest if the person is still under arrest.

(7) Where upon an application in accordance with sub-article

(4) the Magistrate is not satisfied that there are sufficient reasons to believe that the further detention of the person arrested beyond forty-eight (48) hours is justified he may refuse the application or adjourn the hearing until a time not later than forty-eight (48) hours from the time of the arrest.

(8) Where the Magistrate is satisfied that there are sufficient reasons to believe that the further detention of the person arrested is justified he shall issue a warrant of further detention for such period not exceeding a further forty-eight (48) hours as the Magistrate deems fit.

(9) A person released after a warrant for further detention is issued or has expired in his respect, shall not be re-arrested without a warrant to be issued by a Magistrate for the offence for which he was previously arrested unless, since the person’s release, fresh evidence has been discovered or an examination or analysis of existing evidence has been made which could not reasonably have been made before his release.

(10) (a) At the hearing held for the purposes of sub-article (4), the person under arrest shall have the right to be assisted by an advocate or by a legal procurator and that hearing shall:

(i) be held with closed doors;

(ii) be subject to such orders as the Magistrate may give to all persons present at the said hearing for the purpose of protecting the confidentiality of information on the investigation;

(iii) be held summarily in such manner that, in all, the period of the first forty-eight (48) hours provided in sub-article (3) is not exceeded;

(iv) end with the decree of the Magistrate which shall be delivered at the end of the hearing.

(b) The decision of the Magistrate given in accordance with this sub-article shall not be subject to appeal and shall be executable forthwith.