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Zim's human rights lawyers under siege
Basildon Peta, The Cape Argus (SA)
February 18, 2006

http://www.zwnews.com/issuefull.cfm?ArticleID=13819

Hit squads: chilling turn in rights struggle

Three weeks ago, a soldier presented himself at the Zimbabwe Human Rights Association (Zimrights) office in Harare, asking to meet with its head, Arnold Tsunga. When told he was not in the office, the soldier explained that a hit squad of the Military Intelligence Corps was monitoring Tsunga's movements and had received an order to kill him. The soldier claimed that he had come to warn Tsunga of the danger. But the Southern Africa Litigation Centre (SALC) believes the soldier himself was sent to kill Tsunga. The latest human rights body to come under siege by President Robert Mugabe's regime is the Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights (ZLHR), of which Tsunga is also head and which was blacklisted in December at the ruling party Zanu PF congress. The SALC has begun distributing an alert urging concerned individuals and organisations to write protest letters to the Zimbabwe government urging it to desist from its harassment of the ZLHR. It also urges similar protests to be sent to Foreign Minister Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma urging South Africa to intervene and ask for the protection of human rights defenders in Zimbabwe.

The SALC chronicles a number of incidents in which the ZLHR has come under attack from the Zimbabwe government. The ZLHR was behind the representations which resulted in a December resolution condemning human rights abuses in Zimbabwe by the African Commission on Human and People's Rights. This has infuriated the Zimbabwe government. SALC director, Nicole Fritz, said there was growing fear that with a weakened political opposition and an effectively silenced media, the Zimbabwean government now viewed its most vocal, dangerous critics as individuals and groups such as the ZLHR and Tsunga. "It is especially worrying that human rights lawyers are being targeted, as they are now often the last and only protection available to human rights defenders," said Fritz. Tsunga has received numerous death threats while the ZLHR offices have been placed under military surveillance. Its lawyers are arrested and threatened with arrest for defending human rights activists, according to the SALC.

The ZLHR has long been recognised and acclaimed internationally for its courageous opposition to the Zimbabwean government's repressive measures. Of late, the ZLHR has sought to challenge the state's unlawful evictions campaign and its increasing clamp-down on media freedom and civil society organisations. The SALC said events over recent weeks suggested that the ZLHR faced even greater, more extensive threat. Irene Petras, programmes co-ordinator of the ZLHR, said fewer Zimbabwean lawyers were willing to take up the cases of human rights defenders for fear of state harassment. "Given this shortage, the ZLHR must take on an increasing number of these cases and so is increasingly the target of the state's attentions," she said. The SALC said Tsunga appeared to be at particularly grave risk. A few weeks ago, in the early hours of 21 January 2006, two police officers and one soldier forcibly entered Tsunga's home. Not finding Tsunga at home, the officers took his housekeepers to the police station. The police would not release the workers until Tsunga presented himself for questioning and arrest - an increasingly common feature of the Zimbabwe policing system, known as ransom arrests.

While in custody for four days, the three workers were severely beaten and one suffered a perforated eardrum as a result, the SALC said. When Tsunga reported to the police station, he and five others were charged with operating a broadcasting service in Zimbabwe illegally, a charge the SALC dismissed as spurious. Soon thereafter, on 26 January 2006, a soldier presented himself at the Zimrights office, asking to meet with Tsunga. Tsunga was not in the office. The SALC said the soldier explained that a hit squad of the Military Intelligence Corps was monitoring Tsunga's movements and had received an order to kill him. The soldier claimed that he had come to see Tsunga to warn him of the danger. It is possible that this soldier intended to kill Tsunga, according to the SALC. ZLHR lawyer, Tafadzwa Mugabe, representing Tsunga and the other five trustees charged, found himself threatened with arrest for obstructing the course of justice. On Wednesday he was arrested and detained in Harare for coming to the assistance of his clients, 192 women and five infants arrested for participating in the annual Valentine's Day march organised by Women of Zimbabwe Arise. A further 181 were arrested in Bulawayo

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