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This article participates on the following special index pages:
Index of articles on enforced disappearances in Zimbabwe
Concern
about safety and whereabouts of Jestina Mukoko - Release activists
detained in Gweru
National
Association of Non-Governmental Organisations in Zimbabwe (NANGO)
December 07, 2008
http://www.nango.org.zw/campaigns/view.asp?id=866
Five days since the Abduction
of Jestina Mukoko, human rights activist and Director of the Zimbabwe
Peace Project (ZPP) and her whereabouts are still unclear. NANGO
worries for her life!
It is also day
five since the arbitrary arrest and unlawful detention of thirty
three civil society activists in Gweru. Hundreds of other prisoners
of conscience remain incarcerated in various centers around Zimbabwe.
These prisoners are the victims of the State's implementation
of a host of repressive pieces of legislation that threaten not
only democracy but the enjoyment of fundamental freedoms in Zimbabwe.
The 33 activists imprisoned
in Gweru since 3 December 2008 remain incarcerated with no clear
charges brought against them. Policemen responsible for their arrest
have referred to their offence as being that of "participating
in an illegal demonstration." However these men and women
have not been allowed to appear before a judge despite the exhaustion
of the 48 hour permissible holding period.
The activists
are being held in deplorable conditions and thus rendered vulnerable
to the debilitating conditions in inhumane holding cells. Since
Thursday afternoon the activists have been denied access to their
family, counsel and medical attention; Food has to be handed over
to them through a small window at the cell gate - therefore it is
questionable whether prisoners - including Miss Ntombiyezansi Mabunda
(Gweru Agenda) and Denzyl Mashayi (NANGO) - are in good health.
NANGO is deeply
worried about the wellbeing of these civil society activists and
the heightening state of violence and intimidation against civil
society activists in the country.
NANGO condemns the continued
criminalisation of the exercise of basic rights and fundamental
freedoms. Zimbabweans must not be punished for exposing abuses or
speaking up against the deteriorating humanitarian, economic and
social situation.
NANGO calls upon all
responsible authorities to urgently establish the whereabouts of
Jestina Mukoko, secure her safe release and bring her abductors
to justice.
NANGO demands
the immediate release of all prisoners of conscience and the repeal
of the repressive pieces of legislation under whose guise the abuse
of civil society is being perpetrated!
Visit
the NANGO fact
sheet
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