Activist seeking Mugabe arrest

2004-01-02 21:00

LOndon - A veteran British human rights activist said on Friday he would go before a central London court next week to try to get an arrest warrant and extradition order against Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe.

Peter Tatchell said his case against Mugabe - supported by affidavits from three Zimbabwean torture victims - would be heard by judge Timothy Workman at Bow Street magistrate's court on Wednesday.

"The scheduling of this case before such a prominent judge is an indication of the seriousness with which my application is being taken," said Tatchell, a longtime campaigner against the Zimbabwean leader.

He said he was aiming for an arrest warrant and extradition order to be issued under the Criminal Justice Act of 1988, which outlawed torture, and the United Nations Convention Against Torture of 1984.

"If an arrest warrant and extradition order is granted, it would mean Mugabe could be arrested and extradited to Britain from any of the 100-plus countries with which Britain has an extradition treaty," he said.

Lodged formal complaint

Those countries include France, Malaysia, South Africa, Switzerland and Thailand, "all of which he has visited recently", he said.

Tatchell, a founder of the gay rights group OutRage! in 1990, has long been a critic of Mugabe, who was once quoted as describing homosexuals as "worse than pigs or dogs".

In February last year, Tatchell lodged a formal complaint with French authorities to get Mugabe - who was then attending a Franco-African summit in Paris - arrested under French anti-torture laws.

Instead, he was seized by French police along with a fellow protester before they could carry out a demonstration against Mugabe, who was attending the summit despite an EU travel ban on him and members of his inner circle.

- AFP