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This article participates on the following special index pages:
Index of articles on the mistreatment of the legal profession in Zimbabwe
South
African progressive lawyers pledges solidarity with their Zimbabwean
counterparts
National
Association of Democratic Lawyers (NADEL)
May 17, 2007
Visit
the special index page on the mistreatment of the legal profession
in Zimbabwe
There has been
an increasing and intensifying crackdown on lawyers in Zimbabwe
in the recent past through purported criminal prosecutions, beatings
and arrests.
The latest of
these incidents being the arrest of a criminal lawyer, Jonathan
Samkange, accused of violating a section of the Immigration Act
and the detention of about 10 lawyers by the Mutare Police for protesting
the continued harassment and arrest of fellow legal practitioners
by the police.
There is an
increasing fear that this abuse shall escalate as the preparations
for the presidential and parliamentary elections in March 2008 are
getting underway.
NADEL joins
the international and regional community in condemning with the
strongest possible term the collapse of the Rule of Law in Zimbabwe
and the turning of that country into a police state which is characterised
by:
- arbitrary
arrest and detention
- beatings
and brutality against peaceful protests
- total lack
of political freedom for citizens and suppression of the right
to freedom of expression.
NADEL calls
on:
- The Zimbabwean
Attorney-General to ensure that due processes of law are respected
and followed in criminal arrests and prosecutions.
- The Zimbabwean
government respects the Rule of Law and ensure conducive conditions
for the holding of free and fair elections and to agree to mediation
by the South African President.
- The South
African government to officially and unequivocally condemn the
abuse of human rights in Zimbabwe and to show decisive leadership
in this regard; and
- The South
African Development Community and Pan African Community not to
turn a blind eye on the atrocities taking place in Zimbabwe, to
use whatever means possible to pressurise President Robert Mugabe's
regime to cease the brutality against democratic forces for change
in Zimbabwe.
NADEL supports
the initiatives by the SADC Lawyers Association to engage with counterparts
in Zimbabwe to devise common strategies to deal with the onslaught
against democratic forces and the undermining of the Rule of Law
in Zimbabwe.
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