Two more rights activists kidnapped

December 8, 2008

President Robert Mugabe – kidnappings by government on the increase.

By Our Correspondent

HARARE – Two more employees of human rights group Zimbabwe Peace Project (ZPP) were on Monday abducted by six gunmen driving an unmarked car, as renewed crackdown on human rights defenders intensifies.

Broderick Takawira and Pascal Gonzo were kidnapped five days after the early morning abduction of Jestina Mukoko, director of the ZPP and a prominent human rights activist. Her whereabouts remain unknown.

The police on Monday addressed a letter to the National Association of Non Governmental Organisations stating that they were not holding Mukoko in any of their police cells.

The Zimbabwe Times heard that the brother of one of the leading human rights lawyers in the country was also said to have been abducted in Masvingo on Friday.

Gunmen are said to have burst into ZPP offices in Mt Pleasant on Monday hunting for Takawira, a coordinator in the human rights group that has documented the excesses of President Robert Mugabe’s regime. Takawira was seized together with his driver.

“This seems to indicate that the abductions that were frequent on the eve of the so-called re-run election in June are back and increasing, which is very worrying,” said Fambai Ngirande, spokesman for NANGO.

In a statement released Monday in Harare, NANGO, the umbrella body for civil society in Zimbabwe, joined others in demanding the release of Mukoko and others

Similarly, the Zimbabwe Election Support Network, on whose board Mukoko sat, put out a statement demanding her unconditional and immediate release.

The Zimbabwe Times was informed that in Gweru 33 labour activists remained unlawfully detained since their arrest last Wednesday during protests in demand of unlimited cash withdrawals.

“Hundreds of other prisoners of conscience remain incarcerated in various centres around Zimbabwe,” Ngirande said. “These prisoners are the victims of the State’s implementation of a host of repressive pieces of legislation that threaten not only democracy but the enjoyment of fundamental freedoms in Zimbabwe.”

The 33 activists imprisoned in Gweru since December 3 remain incarcerated with no clear charges being brought against them. The police accuse them of participating in an illegal demonstration.

They have been denied the right to appear before a court of law even after the mandatory 48-hour permissible holding period expired.

Ngirande said the activists had been denied access to their families, legal counsel and medical attention.

Civil rights activists Ntombiyezansi Mabunda of pressure group Gweru Agenda and Denzyl Mashayi of NANGO were among civil rights activists held by the regime.

“NANGO is deeply worried about the wellbeing of these civil society activists and the heightening state of violence and intimidation against civil society activists in the country,” Ngirande said.

Civil society groups have addressed a letter to the UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights Defenders, and copied it to the UN Special Rapporteur on Violence Against Women, the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention, and the Zimbabwe Desk Officer (Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights) alerting them of the abductions.

They urged them to use their mandates to ensure protection for all the prisoners.

The communication also highlighted the raids on the Bulawayo offices of the Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights last weekend.

“We will continue to work with the UN human rights system to ensure the protection and well-being of all missing human rights defenders in Zimbabwe,” said Geneva-based pressure group, Zimbabwe Advocacy.