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Human rights defenders update
Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights (ZLHR)
August 24, 2006

http://www.zlhr.org.zw/media/releases/aug_24_06.htm

On the 21st of August 2006 over 200 activists from Women of Zimbabwe Arise (WOZA) took to the streets in the city of Bulawayo protesting over the introduction and implementation of the Monetary Policy by the Governor of the Reserve Bank. Among the concerns of the women’s group were the arbitrary searches, confiscation and subsequent depositing of old bearer cheques with authorities from the Reserve Bank. This in the view of the activists amounted to daylight robbery and institutionalized thievery and acquisition of the hard earned monies of the ordinary citizen.

At around 1115 hours, the activists began their procession and had gathered at the Corner of 9th Avenue and Main Street. The march began along Main Street and the women were intercepted by police at the corner of Leopold Takawira Avenue and Main Street.

The police arrested 153 of the women, including 13 who were breastfeeding, 26 juveniles and 1 person on ARVs. The activist were taken to five separate holding places and police cells: Bulawayo Central, Saucitown Police Station, Mzilikazi, Queens Park, and Barbourfields Police. Lawyers Simbarashe Chivaura and Munyaradzi Nzarayapenga of Dube and Partners were deployed to attend to the women and managed to secure the release of the 26 juveniles and 13 women into their custody, on condition that they report to Bulawayo Central Police everyday until the date of the initial appearance in court. The police allowed the activist on ARVs to have such administered while in custody.

Ephy Khumalo one of the activists fell from the police truck and sustained a fractured arm and several of the juveniles complained of beatings while being interrogated by members of the Law and Order Section at Bulawayo Central before being released into the custody of their lawyers. Food, blankets and sanitary wares were provided by well wishers and the church community in Bulawayo.

On the 22nd of August 2006, first day of detention, the police had not managed to open dockets and record warned and cautioned statements from the entire group. After spending 2 nights in congested, un-hygienic and inhuman detention cells, the activists appeared in court on the 23rd of August 2006 and were charged for contravening section 37(1) (b) of the Criminal Law Codification and Reform Act which provides that "any person acting together with one or more other persons present with him or her 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 participating in a gathering with intent to promote public violence, a breach of the peace or bigotry, as the case may be, and be liable to a fine not exceeding level ten or imprisonment for a period not exceeding five years or both". They were all granted free bail and remanded out of custody to the 10th of October 2006. It was placed on record that the activists reserved their right to challenge remand at the next appearance.

These recent arrests and unlawful detention of legitimate human rights defenders with genuine concerns for the welfare of ordinary Zimbabweans and enjoyment of social, economic, cultural, civil and political rights and the application of a revised Criminal Code widely believed to infringe on fundamental human rights and freedoms presents yet another attack on individual human rights defenders and their various formations and associations. The continued subjection to harassment, ill-treatment of minors and persons living with HIV and Aids under the guise of enforcement of law and order serves to confirm the absence of such with the state institutions and agents as the main aggressors and culprits. ZLHR reiterates the need to effectively dismantle all legislative enactments and desist from all administrative practices that have inhibited, constrained and continue to asphyxiate human rights defenders and their democratic space.

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