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Strikes and Protests 2007- Save Zimbabwe Campaign
Zim
court allows Mugabe opponents to leave
Mail &
Guardian (SA)
March 22, 2007
http://www.mg.co.za/articlePage.aspx?articleid=302691&area=/breaking_news/breaking_news__africa/
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Zimbabwe's High Court has allowed two
opposition officials to travel abroad for medical treatment after
they were barred from leaving the country by police last weekend,
official media reported on Thursday.
The reversal came days after police
said that opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai and dozens of others
arrested on March 12 in a rally against President Robert Mugabe
could not leave the Southern African nation until they appeared
in the court.
High court judge Barat Patel ordered
that Sekai Holland and Grace Kwinje, who were arrested again on
Saturday as they tried to board a flight to South Africa, be released
and their travel documents returned, according to the Herald newspaper.
Patel said Kwinje and Holland, who
said they were beaten by police in custody, could leave the country
but should inform the police before doing so.
On Monday, the high court also ordered
the release of Arthur Mutambara, who heads a splinter faction of
the Tsvangirai's Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), after his
arrest on Saturday as he tried to leave for Zimbabwe's southern
neighbour.
A court hearing for those arrested
in the anti-Mugabe prayer rally was cancelled last week after a
state prosecutor ordered that the detainees, including a bruised
Tsvangirai, be taken to hospital for treatment.
Pictures of an injured Tsvangirai on
his way to hospital drew international outrage. The United States
and Britain led a chorus of Western criticism of Mugabe and threatened
to impose more sanctions against the 83-year-old ruler and his government.
Mugabe's government this week summoned
and warned Western diplomats in Harare that they would be expelled
if they meddled in local politics. Mugabe has accused the West of
funding the MDC to topple him from power amid a deepening economic
crisis. -- Reuters
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