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Urgent Appeal: Human Rights Defenders arrested in Zimbabwe
Zimbabwe Lawyers For Human Rights (ZLHR)
November 10, 2005

Human Rights Defenders
Civil and Political Rights
Abduction/Arbitrary arrests/torture/

The secretariat of Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights (ZLHR) requests your URGENT intervention in the following situation in Zimbabwe. 

Brief description of the situation
The Zimbabwe Congress Trade Unions (ZCTU) a registered trade union in terms of the law of Zimbabwe had called for peaceful demonstrations in the major cities and towns of Harare, Bulawayo, Gweru, Mutare, Masvingo and Chinhoyi. The demonstrations were aimed at raising awareness on the plight of the workers, unprecedented levels of poverty in the country, economic meltdown, good governance and democracy issues, the recently gazetted Constitutional Amendment No. 17 and the erosion of fundamental rights and freedoms in the country.

Day 1
On the 8^th of November 2005, One Hundred and Nineteen (119) human rights defenders in the capital Harare and twenty Five (25) more in Mutare were rounded up by the police, whilst in other towns the police raided in the houses and work places of regional ZCTU leadership and arrested them. The human rights defenders (hrds) were arrested for merely attempting to express themselves and their opinions, to peacefully assemble and associate and to participate in the governance of their country.

The hrds detained at Harare Central Police Station were being held incommunicado as efforts by lawyers Tafadzwa Mugabe, Otto Saki and Alec Muchadehama to gain access were thwarted at every available opportunity. Officers at the Law and Order Section, as has become the norm, denied having custody of the hrds and alleged that they were still with the arresting departments. The Controller on duty then advised of the number of hrds detained but reiterated that the lawyers could not have access to the hrds to check on their welfare and she could not even readily ascertain and inform the lawyers of the charges which were being contemplated, as per correct and normal criminal procedure.

After being shuttled from one office from the other, the Officer in Charge of the Law and Order Section confirmed that they had arrested a significant number of individuals who were participating in the ZCTU demonstrations, but could not allow us access to them due to the absence of procedural formalities including formal charging.

Around 2130hours, lawyers who had by now increased to five were informed that the hrds were being moved to other holding cells. They included Dr. Lovemore Madhuku (the Chaiperson of the National Constitutional Assembly) and the opposition Movement for Democratic Change Mayor of Chitungwiza, Mr. Shoko, who had personally reported to the police as they were wanted for questioning in relation to a separate demonstration which occurred on 6^th of November 2005.

The 119 hrds were moved to Chitungwiza Police Station which is approximately 25 kilometres outside Harare, Dr. Lovemore Madhuku was taken to Stodart Police Station, while Mayor Shoko was taken to Mbare Police Station. In order to establish if the detainees were indeed being taken to the various stations as alleged, and not being abducted to unknown destinations, lawyers had to escort the police trucks ferrying them to the various stations.

Day 2
Around 0800hrs lawyers reported to the various stations to attend to the hrds. They had to wait for the investigating officers (who had to travel from Harare) to arrive. At Chitungwiza Police Station, the investigating officers arrived around 1000hrs and interrogation of the hrds commenced. The President of ZCTU (Lovemore Matombo) and Secretary General (Wellington Chibebe), Munyaradi Gwisai and Briggs John Bomba of the International Socialist Organisation were interviewed separately. Lawyers were given an opportunity to consult with their clients before the interrogation. Of grave concern was the presence of individuals who had been identified as members of the feared Central Intelligence Organisation (CIO). An undertaking was made by the investigating officers that the hrds would not be subjected to any verbal or physical harassment or assault and the lawyers also informed the activists not to answer questions which were incriminatory or unrelated to investigations of the 8^th of November 2005. The lawyers were barred from being present during the interrogations.

At Mbare and Stodart Police stations similar processes were under way with lawyers in attendance.

At Chitungwiza the 119 hrds were only informed after 1300hrs (rather than at the time of their arrest) that they were being charged with contravening section 19(1) (b) of the infamous Public Order and Security Act (POSA) which states that "any person who, acting together with one or more other persons present with him in any place or at any meeting performs any action, utters any words or distributes or displays any writing, sign or other visible representation that is obscene, threatening, abusive or insulting, intending thereby to provoke a breach of the peace or realising that there is a risk or possibility that a breach of the peace may be provoked shall be guilty of an offence…", a charge which the hrds denied in their warned and cautioned statements.

Among the arrested detainees, were in excess of 10 people living with HIV/AIDS who were unable to access their Anti Retroviral medication (ARV) and other treatment since being arrested in Harare on the 8^th of November 2005. There were also some TB patients who need their medication and who had been detained in inhuman and degrading conditions - overcrowded holding cells, no water, shared and open ablution facilities. Further there were five (5) mothers with minor children. The children, all under the age of three (3) were detained together with the mothers in the same holding cells for the alleged crimes of the mothers. This is grave inhuman and degrading treatment not only of the mothers concerned but of the innocent minors. The investigating officers were reminded of the elementary principle of criminal law that all minors are doli incapax ie incapable of forming intentions to commit crimes and do not have capacity to commit crimes. This did not yield results as the mothers, babies and terminally ill were detained again overnight.

Other separate incidents

Women’s Coalition
Netsai Mushonga the coordinator of the Women’s Coalition which is a legally operating universitas in terms of the laws of Zimbabwe, was arrested on the 8^th of November 2005, allegedly for convening a meeting at a local hotel for training women in alternative dispute resolution under the banner of Women Peacemakers International. Rangu Nyamurundira of ZLHR attended to her. Netsai was detained over night as the police were still working on the charges. It was established on the 9^th of November 2005 that she was likely to be charged for contravening section 24 (6) of POSA which criminalises organising a political meeting without informing a regulatory authority, the police in this matter. The women’s rights activist was again detained overnight and processes are under way to have the matter assessed by the Office of the Attorney General for his advice on whether to prosecute or not.

University of Zimbabwe students
On the 19^th of October 2005, four members of the Students’ Executive Council (SEC), secretary-general Garikai Kajauro, vice-president Colleen Chibango, information and publicity secretary Mfundo Mlilo and legal secretary Wellington Mahohoma were suspended following a demonstration on campus protesting against a unilateral decision by the University to compel all students to pay ZWD $150 000 for the repair of University ablution facilities, as around 10 toilets were in perfect working order. These student leaders and 2 others were arrested on the 9^th of November 2005, by the police and taken to St Mary’s Police Station. The students are alleged to have mobilised the students’ community to participate in the demonstration which was organised by ZCTU. Lawyers, Alec Muchadehama and Rangu Nyamurundira attended to the students.

1. To allow lawyers immediate and uninhibited access to detained human rights defenders in terms of the Constitution of Zimbabwe and other international human rights standards and norms to which Zimbabwe is a party, in particular but not limited to the relevant provisions of the United Nations Declaration on Human Rights Defenders, the African Charter on Human and Peoples Rights, the Resolution on Human Rights Defenders in Africa by the African Commission, and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights,
2. To allow arrested hrds who are ill (terminally or otherwise) to be administered with their medication and to allow doctors access to those who are in need of medical attention.
3. To follow proper laid down procedures when arresting individuals, which at the very minimum involves informing them of their rights and the charges which they are preferred against them, allowing them unrestricted access to a lawyer of their choice with whom they can freely and privately consult, allowing them to receive food and water, and to ensure that stipulated time periods for pre-trial detention are not exceeded,
4. To desist from shuttling hrds from one police station to another during the night on unexplained reasons and without prior notification of their lawyers and family members as this is likely to expose hrds to ill-treatment, torture, disappearances and other violations,
5. To urgently attend to the conditions of detention as they are contrary to required constitutional and international minimum standards for prisons and places of detention as was more fully established in the Supreme Court case of Nancy Kachingwe & Wellington Chibebe & Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights vs. Commissioner of Police, Minister of Home Affairs SC 145/04
6. To urge the government of Zimbabwe to allow the United Nations Special Representative of the Secretary General on Human Rights Defenders and the Special Rapporteur on Human Rights Defenders in Africa to undertake a fact finding mission to investigate the situation and treatment of human rights defenders in Zimbabwe.

Addresses

1. Mr. Augustine Chihuri Commissioner of Police, Police Headquarters Harare Fax 263 -4 253 212
2. Mr. Kembo Mohadi, Minister of Home Affairs, Ministry of Home
   Affairs, Harare, Zimbabwe, Fax: + 263 4 726 716
3. Mr. Patrick Chinamasa, Minister of Justice, Legal and Parliamentary
   Affairs, Ministry of Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs, Fax: +
   263 4 77 29 99
4. Mr. Sobusa Gula Ndebele, Attorney-General, Office of the Attorney-
   Harare, Zimbabwe, Fax: + 263 4 77 32 47
5. Mrs. Chanetsa, Office of the Ombudsman Fax: + 263 4 70 41 19

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