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Report slams Zim torture
09/12/2007 07:33 - (SA)
Johannesburg - A group of foreign doctors and researchers who secretly travelled to Zimbabwe earlier this year has presented a report on torture and human rights abuses in the country.
Researches say the report raises profound concerns and questions on whether an election in Zimbabwe under Zanu-PF could possibly be free and fair.
"The victims of torture and political violence whom we spoke with and examined in Zimbabwe were not only prominent members of the political opposition but also low-level political organisers and ordinary citizens," noted Dr Allen Keller, director of the Bellevue/NYU
programme for survivors of torture and co-author of the report.
"They were targeted and brutalised because of their political affiliations or activities. All of the individuals we examined had clear physical and psychological evidence of torture."
The report, based on forensic evaluations, documents how victims of violence have been tortured and subjected to other human rights abuses, causing devastating health
consequences.
Members of civil society, including doctors and lawyers assisting
victims of political violence, also described being subjected to
harassment by government authorities.
The full report is available on www.survivorsoftorture.org.
Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe is currently in Portugal to attend the EU-Africa Summit, however his visit has been marred with controversy.
British Prime Minister Gordon Brown has refused to attend the summit while President Mugabe is there, while African leaders say they refuse to let the EU dictate the terms of the meeting.
The issue of Zimbabwe is not on the summit agenda, however experts say it should dominate much of the unofficial discussion between African and EU countries. - Sapa and News24
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Zimbabwe Special Report
