HUNDREDS have been beaten up and arrested for daring to stand up for their rights in Zimbabwe

By Edith Kaseke 

HARARE - Zimbabwe’s leading rights body, the Human Rights Forum has expressed dismay at continued rights abuses against opponents by President Robert Mugabe’s government after it recorded more than 5 300 cases ranging from torture to murder during the first half of this year. 

Zimbabwe’s main opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) party and human rights groups accuse Mugabe, the country’s leader since independence from Britain in 1980, of sanctioning an often violent crackdown against those opposed to his rule. 

“The Human Rights Forum deplores the use of torture by the state to punish opposition and also to solicit confessions,” the Forum said in its half yearly report. “This is contrary to international human rights instruments to which Zimbabwe is a party.” 

“The Forum therefore urges the government to respect and protect the rights and freedoms of its citizenry regardless of political persuasion or affiliation,” the Forum said. 

Mugabe is facing growing pressure at home and abroad over his political tactics, which analysts say are meant to entrench his 27-year-old grip on power. 

The United States and the European Union have imposed travel and financial restrictions on Mugabe and his top ruling party and government officials partly over charges of gross rights violations and rigging of past elections. 

Mugabe rejects the accusations insisting that the West is demonising him for his policy of seizing vast tracts of fertile land from white commercial farmers to give to landless blacks as part of a drive to address colonial land imbalances. 

In March, Mugabe drew worldwide condemnation after police brutally assaulted MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai and several other opposition and civic leaders for daring to attend a banned prayer rally, leaving most of them with broken limbs. 

Last month, respected rights group, Amnesty International said Mugabe’s government had intensified a clampdown on women fighting for basic freedoms. 

The Human Rights Forum – a grouping of several rights groups – said cases of assault by the police, unlawful arrest and detention and curtailment of freedom of expression and association were on the increase as the crisis-sapped southern African state gears for national elections in 2008. 

The Forum also pointed to the arrest and reported torture of six people, including a former and serving army officer for plotting a coup to topple Mugabe, as a worrying trend. 

The opposition says the government crackdown on opponents showed the ruling ZANU PF party was panicking as anger against a severe economic crisis grows. 

Zimbabwe’s economic crisis is seen in an official inflation rate of 4 530 percent as of May although independent economists say the figure is much higher. 

The International Monetary Fund has predicted inflation could top 100 000 percent by the end of this year, adding to the misery of a majority grappling with an unemployment rate above 80 percent and shortages of foreign currency, food and fuel. 

Political analysts said as anger grows against the government’s policies, including a recent order to freeze prices of basic commodities that has backfired after manufacturers stopped or slashed production, the government’s response was more political crackdown. 

“The only instrument left for the regime naturally is to continue the onslaught on the opposition and all those who oppose the regime,” said John Makumbe, a political science lecturer at the University of Zimbabwe. 

“So the level of human rights abuses will also increase because this is the only way Mugabe can try to crush dissent hoping he will ride out the crisis,” said Makumbe, a fierce Mugabe critic. 

The Forum however said it welcomed the lifting of a ban on political rallies in most of Harare’s districts, which the opposition had described as a state of emergency but which the government said was necessary to ensure peace and security. 

“The Human Rights Forum notes with satisfaction the lifting of the ban on all political gatherings and rallies and implores the government to allow the people of Zimbabwe to express themselves freely especially with the coming 2008 elections in mind,” it said. - ZimOnline