New Zimbabwe.com
1 March 2011
A GROUP of 45 human rights campaigners facing treason charges must stay in jail until their hearing next week to give prosecutors time to prepare the case against them, a magistrate ruled on Tuesday.
Prosecutors said they were not ready to present their case against the group arrested on February 19 for attending a lecture on North African anti-government protests. They are accused of plotting an Egyptian-style uprising in Zimbabwe.
The group, which includes the former Highfield MP Munyaradzi Gwisai and 11 women, says it was an academic lecture and denies wrongdoing. Treason carries a possible death sentence.
Prosecutor Edmore Nyazamba says he needs more time to prepare before the March 7 hearing.
Defence lawyer Alec Muchadehama says the suspects are not guilty and should be released immediately. Lawyers say some suspects were tortured in police custody, and accuse prison authorities of defying an earlier court ruling for them to be seen by a doctor.
The activists were watching a video of the Tunisia and Egyptian protests when Zimbabwean police stormed the room, sent them to jail, and charged them for treason.
It was the latest sign that Zimbabwe’s octogenarian President Robert Mugabe – now in his 31st year of ruling the country – is taking no chances of having a North African-style revolt.
Meanwhile, Zimbabwe’s two former opposition parties now in a coalition with Mugabe’s Zanu PF party have accused prosecutors of abusing the court system.
Education and Sports Minister David Coltart, also the secretary for legal affairs in the Welshman Ncube-led MDC, said on Tuesday: “We are deeply concerned about the ongoing detention of the 45, along with MDC-T MP Douglas Mwonzora. It’s a total abuse of due process and we condemn it.â€
Mwonzora is detained in the eastern city of Mutare, facing accusations of engaging in political violence after addressing a party meeting there a fortnight ago.
His MDC party, led by Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai, said in a statement: “The MDC condemns the current wave of arrests of pro-democracy activists from political parties and civil society, together with artists and playwrights, for merely exercising their basic freedoms of expression and association.
“The arrests seem to have been heightened by imaginary fears emanating from events in North Africa and the Middle East. Since trouble began in Tunisia, cascading into Egypt, Libya and other parts of the Arab world, we have seen a paranoid attempt by certain sections of the state apparatus to target the MDC and its allies in civil society with intimidatory and trumped up charges.â€
The latest legal and political battles came as the United States Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Africa Affairs, Susan Page, arrived in Zimbabwe on a four-day visit.
The United States embassy said during her visit, Page will be in Harare and also Bulawayo, meeting separately with senior government officials, representatives from the business community, and civil society leaders.
“Her visit to Zimbabwe reflects the importance the United States government places on engaging a broad array of Zimbabwean leaders to foster bilateral economic and diplomatic relations,†the US embassy said in a statement.