An appeal court in South Africa said on Monday that former president Jacob Zuma was unlawfully given medical parole from a jail term last year and orders his return to prison to complete his sentence.
Zuma, 80, had been handed a 15-month term in June 2021 for contempt of court, a move that triggered deadly unrest.
But he served only two months before being given parole for medical reasons that remain unclear.
Parole was granted by the head of South Africa’s prison service, despite an opinion by the service’s medical committee that Zuma did not meet the required conditions.
“This court has now determined that Mr Zuma’s release on medical parole was unlawful,” the supreme court of appeal said.
“Mr Zuma in law has not finished serving this sentence. He must return to the Estcourt Correctional Center to do so,” it said, referring to a jail northwest of the city of Durban.
