from MARCUS MUSHONGA in Harare, Zimbabwe
Zimbabwe Bureau
HARARE, (CAJ News) – ZIMBABWEAN authorities have renewed a crackdown against pro-democracy campaigners in the Southern African country.
On Wednesday, state security forcibly removed four campaigners from a plane, which they had boarded in Harare, and held them in incommunicado detention for several hours.
They are Namatai Kwekweza, leader of WeLead Trust, Robson Chere, Secretary-General of Amalgamated Rural Teachers Union of Zimbabwe, Samuel Gwenzi, a former Councillor for Harare Ward 5, and Vusumuzi Moyo.
They were ejected from an aircraft at Robert Mugabe International Airport in the capital city Harare, where they intended to travel to Victoria Falls and attend the fifth African Philanthropic Conference, an annual gathering of civil society policy influencers and other stakeholders.
Representatives from the Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights (ZLHR) unsuccessfully tried to get access to Kwekweza, Chere, Gwenzi and Moyo after they requested for legal assistance and were held in incommunicado detention for about eight hours before their legal practitioners eventually located them.
Chere sustained some injuries after he was tortured by the captors, who reportedly used some planks and iron roads to torture him.
The quartet, who are represented by Kelvin Kabaya, Jeremiah Bamu and Tinashe Chinopfukutwa of ZLHR, was detained overnight at Harare Central Police Station and were charged with disorderly conduct with Zimbabwe Republic Police (ZRP) officers alleging that they participated in an unsanctioned demonstration held at Harare Magistrates Court in June.
They were protesting against the detention of Citizens Coalition for Change (CCC) political party leader, Jameson Timba, and some of the opposition party members and demanding their release from prison.
Meanwhile, in Kariba, Mashonaland West province, ZRP officers on Wednesday 31 arrested 14 residents including John Roland Houghton, a former legislator for Kariba constituency, on yet to be ascertained charges.
The government of President Emmerson Mnangagwa is accused of running Zimbabwe with an iron fist.
He initially came to power after a coup in 2017, pledging to uphold human rights, which had receded under Robert Mugabe, now late.
– CAJ News