ZIMBABWE/FILE: Supporters say arrested Zimbabwe opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai has been beaten in police custody

Record ID: 721300

  • Title: ZIMBABWE/FILE: Supporters say arrested Zimbabwe opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai has been beaten in police custody
  • Date: 12th March 2007
  • Summary: HARARE STREET
  • Embargoed: 27th March 2007 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Topics: Domestic Politics,People
  • Reuters ID: LVA3GQHD3AK8WX0C9IYFXGIEJ2N7
  • Story Text: Supporters of Zimbabwean opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai, arrested on Sunday before an anti-government rally, say he was beaten in police custody and suffered head injuries. Rights groups allege that he and other politicians were tortured and condemn the arrests.

    Dozens of police riot armed with shotguns, tear gas, rubber batons, shields, and wearing protective helmets patrolled the dusty streets of Highfield, a Harare suburb on Monday (March 12), the day after the arrest of opposition leaders.
    Police detained Morgan Tsvangirai, leader of the Movement for Democratic chgange (MDC) and dozens of other opposition figures on Sunday (March 11) and shot dead a man while crushing a prayer meeting organised in defiance of a ban on political rallies.
    Political tension, rising over the soaring cost of living and President Robert Mugabe's controversial rule, erupted into violence when riot squads fought opposition youths in the capital for the second time in a month.
    A coalition of opposition, church and civic groups called a prayer rally on Sunday to address Zimbabwe's deepening political and economic crisis.
    The police ordered the organisers to scrap the meeting amid fears that the MDC was trying to launch a street campaign to oust Mugabe, whom it blames for the country's economic woes.
    Tsvangirai's lawyer Innocent Chagonda told Reuters after a visit to a Harare police station, where the MDC leader was being held, that he was assaulted in detention and was taken to hospital on Sunday night.
    Supporters and human rights groups have condemned the arrests.
    "We are saddened by what happened, we are saddened definitely by the loss of life in Highfields, we are saddened by the arrests of leaders of different organisations," said Lucky Moyo, chairman of the Save Zimbabwe Campaign said during a news conference in Harare.
    They have vowed to continue their campaign for democracy in Zimbabwe.
    "Yesterday's arrests will take the people's agenda forward, our demands are just and legitimate, and the peaceful struggle will not cease until a new, free, prosperous and democratic dispensation unfolds in Zimbabwe," Jacob Mafume, Save Zimbabwe Campaign official said at the same news conference.
    This vow is being echoed by MDC's office in London.
    Julius Mutyambizi-Dewa is the Secretary for the Movement for Democratic Change in Britain and Ireland. He spent the past 24 hours trying to reach MDC workers in Harare to get information about the condition of Tsvangirai.
    It's been difficult to get news from Zimbabwe, but Mutyambizi-Dewa said he was told Tsvangirai was badly beaten up while in custody.
    "My understanding that he has been severely beaten...and his ears have been severely beaten. So I. you know, expect that something really terrible has happened to him because this is the nature of the barbarism that the ZANU-PF government has shown in the past and they want to show it again and again."
    Mutyambizi-Dewa said a demonstration of Zimbabweans living in London who are opposed to Mugabe was planned for Wednesday (March 14) outside the Zimbabwean High Commission.
    Mutyambizi-Dewa said the crackdown on the MDC and its leaders would make the opposition stronger, not weaker.
    "The people of Zimbabwe are not going to let their leader being arrested and fold their arms to the harassment of their leader. All hell is going to break loose and Morgan Tsvangirai and other leaders that have been arrested are going to be freed. The people of Zimbabwe are sick and tired of a bully who runs amok and tries to show everyone that he has muscle," he said.
    One of criticisms against Mugabe's government is its eviction campaign which left thousands in the capital Harare homeless.
    Called "Operation Restore Order", the campaign was an attempt by Mugabe's government to clean up urban slums it says are a haven for black-market traders and other criminals.
    The United Nations said an estimated 200,000 have been left homeless by the campaign.
    The economy is also suffering. Inflation is now more than 1,700 percent, the highest rate in the world, and unemployment is more than 80 percent. Once a food exporter, Zimbabwe is struggling with chronic food, fuel and foreign exchange shortages.
    Under Zimbabwe's security laws, police can detain suspects for up to 48 hours before bringing them to court but can extend this period through a legal certificate issued by a magistrate.
    A political analyst in Zimbabwe warned that this could just be the beginning of a difficult year for the 83-year-old Mugabe and his government.
    "The problem with dictatorial regimes, they think that the use of violence will actually cause the people to be peaceful, to go into hiding or to stop demonstrating. On the contrary, there will be more of these incidents during this year 2007 and I think they will intensify in brutality and the recklessness of the people is also going to escalate very much," John Makumbe, a leading political commentator and Mugabe critic.
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