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ZimOnline - SADC shielding Mugabe, say international lawyers
17th January 2009
HARARE – The International Bar Association (IBA) on Wednesday accused southern African leaders of blocking attempts by the international community to hold Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe’s government accountable for violating human rights.

The IBA, a grouping of leading international legal practitioners, bar associations and law societies, implored Southern African Development Community (SADC) leaders to act to ensure that Zimbabwean opposition and civic activists jailed since last year and allegedly tortured by police were freed.

"SADC has an obligation to act on the crimes of Robert Mugabe’s government," said IBA executive director Mark Ellis in a statement.

"To date SADC has blocked outside initiatives to hold Mugabe’s regime accountable for its abuses and has been silent while international law is violated with impunity."

At least 40 activists, including prominent human rights campaigner Jestina Mukoko are being held by police on charges of plotting to overthrow Mugabe and his ruling ZANU PF party – charges the opposition MDC party says are trumped up and part of a fresh crackdown against its members and structures.

The detainees – who included a two-year old toddler who was only released yesterday – were abducted in November and December from various locations and held incommunicado for weeks.

"The IBA deplores the inaction of SADC leaders on the unlawful actions of the Zimbabwean government," IBA’s Human Rights Institute co-chair Justice Richard Goldstone said.

"Regional leaders cannot stand by while these unlawful detentions continue in Zimbabwe and still ask the rest of the international community to wait on them to solve the crisis. A key term of the power-sharing deal was that rights violations would stop."

Mugabe, MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai and the leader of a faction of the opposition, Arthur Mutambara, signed an agreement last September to share power in a government of national unity to tackle Zimbabwe’s decade-long political and economic crisis.

However, the pact appears to be unravelling over a dispute between Mugabe and Tsvangirai over control of key ministerial and other top government posts and over the composition and powers of a new national security council.

The abduction and torture of MDC and civic society activists has cast further doubt on the power-sharing pact with Tsvangirai threatening to suspend talks with Mugabe over what he says is the persecution of his supporters.

"The Mugabe regime is clearly failing to protect the fundamental rights of the citizens of Zimbabwe. This places a responsibility on other governments, and especially those of the SADC, to intervene," Goldstone added.

Zimbabwe security minister Didymus Mutasa admitted in court a fortnight ago that state security agents had seized and detained a scores of opposition and civic activists on his orders.

While the majority of the activists have appeared in court, 12 remain unaccounted for and the police will not say whether holding them.

A doctor who examined some of the detainees testified in court that they had been tortured and needed medical treatment.

A High Court judge ruled that their detention was unlawful and ordered that they be taken to a hospital for medical treatment, but government lawyers are challenging his ruling and police have refused to obey the court order.

The Supreme Court on Tuesday ordered the state to ensure Mukoko received urgent medical attention but Zimbabwe’s highest court declined to rule on an appeal by the human rights campaigner’s lawyers challenging the constitutionality of her continued detention.

The Supreme Court said Mukoko’s application was unprocedural because it had not been referred to the court by a magistrate. A magistrate’s court will rule today whether to refer Mukoko’s application to the Supreme Court.

However Attorney General Johannes Tomana was quoted by state media on Wednesday as saying the human rights defender will not be released from jail anytime soon because she was "a security threat".

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