amnesty slams 'zim attacks'

By News24.com

May 10, 2005: London - Amnesty International on Tuesday called on the government of Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe to stop harassing human rights campaigners, a group it said had been under "sustained attack" in recent years.

Such intimidation must end immediately, the London-based rights group said in a new report, "Zimbabwe: Human rights defenders under siege".

"Hundreds of ordinary Zimbabweans, who have fought to protect the rights of their fellow citizens, have faced intimidation, arbitrary arrest, assault and torture at the hands of a government intent on concealing its violation of human rights," said Kolawole Olaniyan, head of the group's Africa programme.

"The government must ensure those responsible for all human rights violations, including against human rights campaigners, are brought to justice and laws that violate international human rights standards are repealed."

Mugabe, who was re-elected in March in presidential elections, criticised by overseas monitoring groups as unfair, has faced sustained international pressure in recent years over the country's human rights record.

Repression, rights abused

The government is accused of allowing repression and violence by security services against political opponents, as well as suppressing the media.

Those campaigning against rights abuses were particular targets, the Amnesty report said, cataloguing actions such as the arbitrary arrest of hundreds of activists.

Rights campaigners were also discredited by state-controlled media, while the independence of judges and lawyers was undermined through repeated harassment and assault, the report said.

"This sustained attack on Zimbabwe's human rights campaigners speaks volumes about the length to which the government will go to cover up human rights abuses and prevent criticism of its actions," Olaniyan said.

The African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights had called on Zimbabwe to repeal laws used to obstruct the work of human rights campaigners, Olaniyan added. "It is high time the government fully implemented the recommendations of the African Commission's report."