Ex-Ecuador President Mahuad Petitions Rights Court, Cites Political Persecution

Former Ecuadorian President Jamil Mahuad is seeking international intervention, petitioning the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) to address what he claims is political persecution orchestrated through the judiciary.

Mahuad, who served as president from 1998 to 2000, was sentenced to eight years in prison for embezzlement. He argues that this conviction, and the subsequent arrest warrant that has kept him in the United States since 2000, are the result of a "forced, extensive, and analogously prohibited" interpretation of the embezzlement law by Ecuadorian judicial authorities. His defense contends that a macroeconomic policy decision from his government was wrongly transformed into an act of personal enrichment.

The petition follows the Ecuadorian Constitutional Court's denial of an extraordinary protection action in December 2025, which left Mahuad's embezzlement conviction final. He is asking the IACHR to declare Ecuador's international responsibility for violating his rights, including judicial guarantees, due process, the principle of legality, freedom of movement, equal protection, and effective judicial protection.

Mahuad's legal team, led by former IACHR judge Asdrúbal Aguiar, asserts that the criminal prosecution has been "arbitrary, systematic, and prolonged," allegedly promoted by political powers, particularly during the administration of former President Rafael Correa. This petition represents a new avenue for Mahuad's claims after exhausting domestic legal remedies.