| |
Back to Index
ZLHR
condemns lengthy detention and rights abuses of WOZA leaders
Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights (ZLHR)
November 03, 2008
Zimbabwe Lawyers
for Human Rights (ZLHR) wishes to express its concern and condemn
the continued detention and harassment of the leaders of Women
of Zimbabwe Arise (WOZA), a legally recognized non-governmental
organization, for exercising their constitutionally guaranteed and
recognized fundamental rights and freedoms, namely of expression,
association and assembly.
WOZA leaders, Jenni Williams and Magodonga Mahlangu, who were arrested
on 16 October 2008 during a peaceful protest held in Bulawayo in
which they were peacefully demanding immediate access to much-needed
food aid, have now spent more than two weeks in Mlondolozi Prison.
According to WOZA officials, the defence team is still awaiting
the outcome of an urgent High Court application which was filed
on 27 October 2008 seeking the immediate release of the women human
rights defenders. WOZA reports that court authorities have indicated
that they are unable to locate the court file to hand over to another
Judge as the Judge initially allocated the case is reportedly out
of Bulawayo.
Prison guards at Mlondolozi Prison are reportedly hostile in their
treatment of the two WOZA leaders and threatening the team taking
food to them.
The harassment and detention of the human rights defenders, which
comes at a time of an intensified government crackdown on human
rights defenders and activists on spurious grounds is a clear evidence
of how the police continue to arbitrarily arrest, intimidate, harass
and detain individuals without regard to their rights.
The right to liberty has been stated the world over by courts and
international agreements to be a special right, which must not be
taken away with such little thought and concern. The Zimbabwean
Constitution,
the African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights, as well
as numerous other international human rights instruments, to which
Zimbabwe is a State party, protect these rights to liberty, freedom
of expression, association and assembly.
ZLHR further condemns the continued detention of human rights defenders
in cells whose conditions are inhuman and degrading.
ZLHR calls upon prison authorities to uphold the internationally
acceptable standards of treatment of untried prisoners as prescribed
in the Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners, adopted
on 30 August 1955 by the First United Nations Congress on the Prevention
of Crime and the Treatment of Offenders, as well as the African
Union Guidelines on the Right to Fair Trial and Legal Assistance
in Africa.
It is incumbent
upon the government to ensure that the country is not reduced into
a police state, if it is not already one, as appears from the evidence
on the ground.
ZLHR thus calls upon the police, prison authorities and the de facto
government to:
- Immediately
ensure that the courts facilitate a fair and impartial judicial
process to the WOZA leaders as per regional and international
best practices;
- Cease the
repressive practice of unlawful arrest, detention and victimization
of human rights defenders on the basis of frivolous charges;
- Allow relatives
and friends to provide food and other assistance to the detainees
without harassment, as is stipulated in regional and international
instruments to which Zimbabwe is a State Party;
- Acknowledge,
appreciate and respect the rights of persons in Zimbabwe to express
themselves peacefully on issues that affect their lives and those
of other ordinary Zimbabweans.
Visit the ZLHR
fact
sheet
Please credit www.kubatana.net if you make use of material from this website.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons License unless stated otherwise.
TOP
|
