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Detained activists face possible torture
Amnesty International
June 03, 2008

http://allafrica.com/stories/200806030750.html

Activists from the organization Women of Zimbabwe Arise (WOZA), including WOZA leaders Jenni Williams and Magadonga Mahlangu were arrested on 28 May at a peaceful demonstration in the Zimbabwean capital, Harare. They are in grave danger of torture or other ill treatment and are being held under harsh prison conditions.

Jenni Williams, national coordinator of WOZA, fellow WOZA leader Magadonga Mahlangu, and 12 other activists, including one man, were arrested on 28 May as they marched to the Zambian Embassy. They were calling on the Chair of the Southern African Development Community to help bring an end to the violence that has been taking place in Zimbabwe since elections were held on 29 March 2008. It is reported that some of the WOZA members were beaten by police as they were arrested. They are all being charged with 'distributing materials likely to cause a breach of the peace,' under Section 37 of the Criminal Law (Codification and Reform) Act. Jenni Williams has a further charge against her for 'publishing or communicating false statements prejudicial to the State' under Section 31 of the same Act.

Some WOZA members appeared in court on 30 May and others on 31 May. After initially being granted bail, the state prosecutor then won an appeal against granting them bail and all fourteen were remanded in custody. The thirteen women are being held at Chikurubi Maximum Security Prison and the male WOZA member is being held at Harare Central Remand Prison. Reports indicate that conditions in both of these prisons are deplorable and fall well below international standards. Sufficient blankets and warm clothing have not been provided to the WOZA detainees, which is of particular concern as it is currently winter in Zimbabwe. They are being remanded in custody until 6 June when they will appear in court again.

Amnesty International understands that the WOZA members were arrested and detained purely because they were attempting to exercise their universally guaranteed rights to freedom of association and assembly.

Background information
Though WOZA members have been arrested on dozens of occasions, since the formation of the organisation in 2003, the most recent arrests are part of a wider crackdown on human rights defenders, trade unionists, lawyers, journalists, election observers and opposition activists, in the wake of the parliamentary and presidential elections of 29 March. The results of the presidential election were announced on 2 May. No candidate won the 50 per cent plus one vote required to win the election. According to the Electoral Act, a run-off between the two highest scoring candidates, President Robert Mugabe and Morgan Tsvangirai from the Movement for Democratic Change, should be held within 21 days of the election. However, the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission has not yet set a date.

Zimbabwe is a state party to the African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, both of which guarantee the rights of freedom of expression, association and assembly.

Recommended action: Please send appeals to arrive as quickly as possible, in English or your own language:

• urging the Minister of Justice to release WOZA members, including Jenni Williams and Magadonga Mahlangu and 12 others, immediately and unconditionally, as they have been detained solely for the peaceful exercise of their rights to freedom of association and assembly;
• calling on him to ensure that they are not tortured or otherwise ill-treated, but are treated in compliance with human rights standards governing the treatment of detainees, including those contained in Article 7 and Article 10 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, to which Zimbabwe is a state party;
• urging him to ensure that Jenni Williams, Magadonga Mahlangu and the 12 other WOZA activists have access to their lawyers, their families, warm clothing and blankets, adequate food and any medical attention they may require.

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