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African Commission defers ruling on Zimbabwe torture case
ZimOnline
December 31, 2005

http://www.zimonline.co.za/headdetail.asp?ID=11356

HARARE - The African Commission on Human and People's Rights (ACHPR) has deferred to next year its ruling in a case in which an exiled Zimbabwean lawyer is suing the Harare authorities for torture and other human rights abuses.

Gabriel Shumba appealed to the continental human rights watchdog after being severely tortured by Zimbabwe's state security agents in 2003. He says the torture violated the African charter on human and people's rights to which Harare is a signatory.

Shumba was represented during the hearings held earlier this month at the ACHPR headquarters in Banjul, The Gambia, by United States human rights lawyer, David Padilla while Loice Matanda-Moyo defended the Zimbabwe government.

In a letter addressed to Shumba, who now lives in exile in South Africa, Omari Holaki, a senior official at the ACHPR said his organisation would make a ruling on the case next May.

"The Secretariat of the African Commission wishes to inform you that at its 38th Ordinary Session held in Banjul, The Gambia, from 21st November to 5th December 2005, the African Commission considered the above matter and deferred further consideration on admissibility to its 39th Ordinary Session," read Holaki's letter, shown to ZimOnline.

Shumba wants the ACHPR to censure President Robert Mugabe's government for violating several sections of the African Charter on Human and People's Rights which bar the use of torture. He also wants the Harare authorities to compensate him for the pain that he went through.

The Zimbabwean lawyer also wants state security agents found guilty of perpetrating the torture punished. Shumba was subjected to electric shocks and forced to drink his own urine by Zimbabwe's feared state security agents after he was detained for representing an opposition Movement for Democratic Change legislator Job Sikhala.

Shumba fled to South Africa after failing to get justice in Zimbabwe.

If the human rights watchdog rules in Shumba's favour, the case might result in more public humiliation for Mugabe and increase international pressure for the veteran Zimbabwean leader to embrace democratic reforms.

If the Zimbabwean government is found guilty in the matter, the ACHPR, the judicial arm of the African Union, will forward the matter to the African Union heads of government to censure the Harare authorities.

But it is still to be seen whether the African Union can muster enough courage to defend the rights of common citizenry after fiercely ganging up to defend Mugabe at international fora.

Human rights groups accuse Mugabe of perpetrating serious human rights abuses against his political opponents in a bid to hold on to power. But Mugabe denies the charges insisting they are trumped up by Britain and the MDC in a bid to tarnish his image. - ZimOnline

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