Judge frees Zimbabwean rights activist

Via The Associated Press:

HARARE, Zimbabwe (AP) — Zimbabwean rights activist Jestina Mukoko and 14 other people were ordered freed on bail Wednesday after the president and the prime minister forced a judge to reverse the previous day’s decision that had sparked outrage.

James Maridadi, spokesman for Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai, said the premier had raised the issue Tuesday in meetings with President Robert Mugabe and Deputy Prime Minister Arthur Mutambara.

“And they agreed that the bail conditions should be reinstated,” Maridadi told The Associated Press. He said the justice minister was directed to ensure the agreement was carried out.

At a hastily called court hearing Wednesday, Harare Magistrate Catherine Chimanda reversed her decision without saying why.

She refused, though, to free three others she had ordered returned to prison Tuesday, saying their case was more serious because they had allegedly been found in possession of explosives.

Mukoko testified during an earlier bail hearing that she had been tortured and assaulted during detention, and the defendants had bloodied, swollen faces during court appearances late last year.

The group, which includes members of the former opposition party that joined a coalition government in February, faces charges stemming from an alleged plot to overthrow Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe. Neighboring governments have said they believe the allegations are baseless.

The suspects had been free on bail for two months. Chimanda said Tuesday she was jailing them again because a formal indictment filed Monday accused them of sabotage, terrorism and banditry. Their trial is to start July 4.

Shortly before word spread they had been freed, former opposition leader Tendai Biti declared at a news conference Wednesday that “the political prisoners must be released.”

Biti’s Movement for Democratic Change joined Mugabe’s ZANU-PF party in a unity government in February to try to address the country’s economic and political crises, but the partnership has been strained between the longtime rivals. The MDC had said the ruling sending the suspects back to prison would undermine international confidence in Zimbabwe and could wreck the coalition.

Britain’s Foreign Secretary David Miliband said in a statement Tuesday that the order to send the suspects back to a prison where they say they were tortured was “disappointing.

“The Foreign Secretary has previously said the release of all political detainees is one of the principal conditions for full international re-engagement with Zimbabwe. This remains the case at this crucial time for Zimbabwe,” Miliband said.

Georgette Gagnon, Africa director at Human Rights Watch, said the now-reversed order made it “pretty clear that ZANU-PF is trying to undermine the new power-sharing administration and is an example of Zimbabwe’s overall lack of progress in respecting the rule of law and basic rights.”

In New York, Amnesty International said Tuesday that “the detention of 18 human rights and political activists on false accusations that they plotted to topple the Zimbabwe government casts a shadow over the new government and calls into question its commitment to halt persecutions of political opponents.”

This entry was posted by Sokwanele2 on Wednesday, May 6th, 2009 at 3:57 pm. You can follow any comments on this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.