The Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders, a joint programme of the World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT) and the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH), requests your urgent intervention in the following situation in Zimbabwe.
Description of the situation:
According to the information received, on September 13 and 14, 2007, three ZCTU members, Messrs. Eliot Muposhi, Willmore Makure and Tafara Tawengahama were arrested in Masvingo and taken to the police station of the city where they were interrogated by police officers from the Law and Order section and members of the Central Intelligence Organisation, concerning the planned ZCTU stay away. After the interrogation which lasted three hours the three were released but threatened with reprisals if they went ahead with the stay away.
In Harare, on September 17, 2007, three ZCTU members, Messrs. Michael Kandukutu, Justice Mucheni, who is also a member of the Food Federation, as well as Mr. Tennyson Muchepfa, also a member of the National Engineering Workers union (NEWU), were arrested in Harare’s Workington area while trying to distribute fliers for the stay away. In the framework of these arrests the ZCTU members were assaulted by police officers before being taken to Mbare police station where they were further assaulted. They were then transferred to Harare Central police station where they were submitted to serious ill-treatment. On September 20, they were taken to court and released on bail. They remain accused of "criminal nuisance" under Section 46 of the Zimbabwean Criminal Code and will face these charges in court on October 3, 2007.
In Bulawayo, on September 18, 2007, Mr. Isaac Teveteve, the Secretary of the Gweru branch of the ZCTU, was arrested and sent to detention in Gweru, before being released a few hours later. On the same day, three WOZA members, Ms. Magodonga Mahlangu, Ms. Rosemary Siziba and Ms. Sitshiyiwe Ngwenya were arrested and taken to the Bulawayo police station where they were charged under the Criminal Codification Act for "malicious damage to property owned by the State". The charges relate to messages reading "choose love over hate" that have been written on roads around Bulawayo. Ms. Mahlangu was reportedly removed from Bulawayo police station and brought to a police station located 30 kilometres away from the city. While she was in detention, Law and Order officers subjected her to intensive interrogations and threatened her with death. The three activists were then brought to court on September 19, 2007, where lawyers facilitated their release.
The Observatory expresses its deep concern regarding the above-mentioned cases of arbitrary arrests, detentions and ill-treatments against Zimbabwean human rights defenders, in a context of increasing repression against any initiative from the independent civil society and recalls that according to Article 1 of the UN Declaration on Human Rights Defenders, adopted by the General Assembly of the United Nations on December 9, 1998, "everyone has the right, individually and in association with others, to promote and to strive for the protection and realisation of human rights and fundamental freedoms at the national and international levels".
The Observatory further recalls the 2005 Resolution on the situation of human rights in Zimbabwe of the African Commission on Human and Peoples Rights, which "urges the government of Zimbabwe to respect the fundamental rights and freedoms of expression, association and assembly [...]".
Actions required:
Please write to the authorities of Zimbabwe urging them to:
1. Guarantee in all circumstances the physical and psychological integrity of Messrs. Muposhi, Makure, Tawengahama, Kandukutu, Mucheni, Muchepfa, Teveteve, of Ms. Mahlangu, Ms. Siziba and Ms. Ngwenya, as well as of all WOZA and ZCTU members;
2. Conduct a fair, impartial and independent investigation into the allegations of threats, assaults and ill-treatment above-mentioned, in order to identify all those responsible, bring them to trial and apply to them the sanctions provided by law;
3. Ensure that Messrs. Kandukutu, Mucheni and Muchepfa be granted a fair and impartial trial so that the charges against them be dropped as they seem to aim at merely sanctioning their human rights activities;
4. Put an end to all acts of harassment against human rights defenders in Zimbabwe;
5. Conform with the provisions of the UN Declaration on Human Rights Defenders, adopted by the General Assembly of the United Nations on December 9, 1998, especially its Article 1 (above-mentioned), Article 6.b, which provides that "everyone has the right, individually and in association with others [...] freely to publish, impart or disseminate to others views, information and knowledge on all human rights and fundamental freedoms" and article 12.2, which provides that "the State shall take all necessary measures to ensure the protection by the competent authorities of everyone, individually and in association with others, against any violence, threats, retaliation, de facto or de jure adverse discrimination, pressure or any other arbitrary action as a consequence of his or her legitimate exercise of the rights referred to in the [...] Declaration";
6. Ensure in all circumstances respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms in accordance with international human rights standards and international instruments ratified by Zimbabwe.
Addresses :
* President of Zimbabwe, Mr. Robert G. Mugabe, Office of the President, Private Bag 7700, Causeway, Harare, Zimbabwe, Fax : +263 4 708 211
* Mr. Khembo Mohadi, Minister of Home Affairs, Ministry of Home Affairs, 11th Floor Mukwati Building, Private Bag 7703, Causeway, Harare, Zimbabwe, Fax : +263 4 726 716
* Mr. Patrick Chinamasa, Minister of Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs, Ministry of Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs, Fax: + 263 4 77 29 99 / +263 4 252 155
* Mr. Augustine Chihuri, Police Commissioner, Police Headquarters, P.O. Box 8807, Causeway, Harare, Zimbabwe, Fax : +263 4 253 212 / 728 768 / 726 084
* Mr. Sobuza Gula Ndebele, Attorney-General, Office of the Attorney, PO Box 7714, Causeway, Harare, Zimbabwe, Fax: + 263 4 77 32 47
* Mrs. Chanetsa, Office of the Ombudsman Fax: + 263 4 70 41 19
* Ambassador Mr. Chitsaka Chipaziwa, Permanent Mission of Zimbabwe to the United Nations in Geneva, Chemin William Barbey 27, 1292 Chambésy, Switzerland, Fax: + 41 22 758 30 44, Email: mission.zimbabwe@ties.itu.net
* Ambassador Mr. Pununjwe, Embassy of Zimbabwe in Brussels, 11 SQ Josephine Charlotte, 1200 Woluwe-Saint-Lambert, Belgium, Fax: + 32 2 762 96 05 / + 32 2 775 65 10, Email: zimbrussels@skynet.be
Please also write to the embassies of Zimbabwe in your respective country.