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Two Zim lawyers detained
05/05/2007 20:34 - (SA)
Harare - Two Zimbabwean human rights
lawyers have been detained in what appears to be a widening
campaign against the opposition, a rights group said on
Saturday.
An official with the Crisis in Zimbabwe Coalition said Alec
Muchadehama and Andrew Makoni had been arrested in Harare on
Friday.
"The two of them were taken in yesterday and we understand
they are being detained at Harare Central (Police Station) and
there is a suggestion they are facing some charges, trumped up
charges in our view, of obstructing the course of justice,"
said the official, who declined to be named.
"This, in our view, is part of this whole campaign against
those fighting for democratic space, those fighting for human
rights and calling for government accountability," he added.
Police spokespersons were not immediately available for comment.
Muchadehama and Makoni are members of the group Zimbabwe
Lawyers for Human Rights. They were part of a team of attorneys
that represented opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai and dozens
of other Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) officials after
they were arrested in March and severely assaulted for defying a
government ban on rallies.
President Robert Mugabe's government has threatened to react
strongly against opposition forces he accuses of trying to
overthrow his government on behalf of Zimbabwe's former colonial
master Britain.
Mugabe's government last month launched a crackdown on the
MDC, accusing it of trying to overthrow it through a "terrorist
campaign" of petrol bombings. The opposition denies the charge.
Analysts expect the government to step up pressure on all
its opponents ahead of general elections next year.
Mugabe, 83, has been in power since white rule ended in 1980
and has been endorsed by Zanu-PF to run again for president in
the elections, which the opposition says it might boycott.
Mugabe's Zanu-PF government has threatened to expel Western
diplomats he accuses of supporting the opposition, and to ban
non-governmental organisations he says are funding opposition
politics.
- Reuters
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Zimbabwe Special Report
