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ROHR activists released from police custody without charges
Restoration of Human Rights (ROHR)
October 29, 2008

Six ROHR Zimbabwe activists who were arrested on Monday 27 October 2008 after a peaceful protest we released last night without any charges. Mercy Ncube, Simbarashe Sibanda, Joseph Mutizi, Adam Muchiriri, Tonderai Moyo and Clever Nyoni spent a night at Harare Central police station only to be released yesterday (28-10-08) at 2100hrs after numerous failed attempts by our staff to identify and rescue them. Joshua Mwale, the seventh ROHR activist was released the same day on Monday. Adam Muchiriri, who was earlier on feared to be abducted, had actually been detained by police.

ROHR Zimbabwe only managed to confirm the names after their release. From reliable information made available to our office, their detention was kept secret by sympathetic officers who wanted to protect the detainees from the Central Intelligence Organisation. An inspector from inside the station said that the operatives from intelligence visited the station three times between Monday and Tuesday morning looking for them and demanded their handover to the CIO. The police told them that the activists had already been released on Monday so as to dissuade them from continuing with the hunt. On Tuesday afternoon ROHR Zimbabwe liaised the inspector to secure their release. They were not beaten or tortured during detention, except for Clever Nyoni who was beaten by police during his arrest.

This comes in the wake of reports from our members and public that some police officers also fell victim of Zanu PF violence on Monday. An eye witness, a ROHR member who escaped from the Zanu PF headquarters at night after an abduction on Monday, saw a police officer in uniform being beaten inside the headquarters. She said he was being accused of being sympathetic to opposition activists and disregarding Zanu PF instructions. At the time of writing this alert the police could not be reached to confirm if they have a report of a missing officer.

ROHR Zimbabwe condemns all forms of violence, lawlessness, intimidation from anyone, whether law enforcement agencies, political parties or private citiznes. It is a gross violation of people's rights protected in the constitution and international conventions such as Universal Declaration of Human Rights, African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights (ACHPR).

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