IACHR grants precautionary measures in favor of constitutional lawyer Enrique Anaya in El Salvador

September 23, 2025

Washington, DC—The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) issued Resolution 67/2025 on September 22, 2025, to grant precautionary measures in favor of Salvador Enrique Anaya Barraza in El Salvador, in the belief that he faces a serious, urgent risk of suffering irreparable harm to his rights to life, personal integrity, and health.

According to the request for these precautionary measures, Anaya is a constitutional lawyer, a university professor, and a critic of El Salvador's current government. He has been deprived of liberty since June 7, 2025, and is allegedly being held incommunicado. His family and legal counsel do not know his conditions of detention or health condition, despite various judicial decisions in his favor concerning his health. Anaya has chronic health issues, but the details of his current situation and health condition remain unknown, since he is being held incommunicado.

The State said that the beneficiary was being allowed to receive from his family special food to address his health requirements. The State further said that the beneficiary's rights to health and due process had been protected at all times, including his right to a technical defense. The State also noted that no direct evidence had been provided of risks for the beneficiary's physical or mental integrity that could not be prevented or addressed by national mechanisms.

When assessing this request for precautionary measures, the IACHR took into consideration the allegations in the broader context in El Salvador. The IACHR acknowledged the measures taken by the State in this case. However, the IACHR noted that the beneficiary, as a constitutional lawyer, had commented on issues of significant public interest and that he was allegedly being deprived of liberty in application of pretrial detention, without specific deadlines, and was being held incommunicado. He allegedly has no contact with his family or legal counsel, who are unable to access information about his current situation, health condition, and conditions of detention despite the fact that domestic judicial institutions have issued several remedies in his favor.

Further, the IACHR stressed that Anaya is entitled to additional protection, as an older person who is deprived of liberty. Consequently, in keeping with Article 25 of its Rules of Procedure, the IACHR asked the State of El Salvador to take the following action:

1. Adopt any measures necessary to protect Anaya's rights to life, personal integrity, and health
2. Take all measures necessary to ensure that the beneficiary's conditions of detention reflect the applicable international standards, particularly the following: immediately stop holding the beneficiary incommunicado; enable him to have regular contact with and access to his family, lawyers, and other representatives, as a way to safeguard his rights, and provide him—in a timely and adequate manner—with the medical treatment he has been prescribed; and, considering the risks for his life, personal integrity, and health and the fact that pretrial detention should be an exceptional measure, review the application of pretrial detention in this case, given the applicable standards, and consider alternatives
3. Come to an agreement with the beneficiary and his representatives concerning any measures that need to be taken
4. Report on any action taken to investigate the alleged events that gave rise to the adoption of these precautionary measures—including any ties to the beneficiary's work as a human rights defender—in order to prevent such events from happening again in the future

The fact that these precautionary measures have been granted and their adoption by the State of El Salvador do not entail a prejudgment on a potential petition that may be filed before the inter-American system to allege violations of rights protected by the applicable instruments.

The IACHR is an autonomous body of the Organization of American States (OAS) whose mandate is based on the OAS Charter and the American Convention on Human Rights. Its mission is to promote and defend human rights throughout the Americas and to serve as an advisory body to the OAS in this area. The IACHR consists of seven independent members elected by the OAS General Assembly who serve in a personal capacity and do not represent their countries of origin or residence.

No. 194/25

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