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'Arrest of women activists was illegal'
Daily Mirror, Zimbabwe
April 05, 2005

http://www.dailymirror.co.zw

BULAWAYO - High Court judge, Justice Mafios Cheda, has ruled that the arrest and detention of 49 members of (Woza) last May while staging a street procession was illegal.

Cheda ordered police to refund $30 000 to each of the women who were forced to pay deposit fines for alleged contravention of provisions of the Miscellaneous Offences Act last year.

The State was also ordered to pay the costs of the application.

Woza, which was represented by Kucaca Phulu, argued that the police’s arrest of its members was arbitrary and unlawful, and that the applicants paid the fines under duress.

The women, including their leader Jennifer Williams, were arrested and detained at Bulawayo Central Police Station for staging a street procession.

The State did not oppose the applicants’ case.

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