judicial harassment faced by Mr. Farai Maguwu

June 22, 2010

The Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders, a joint programme of the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) and the World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT), requests your urgent intervention in the following situation in Zimbabwe.

Description of the situation:

The Observatory has been informed by ZimRights and the Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights (ZLHR) of the judicial harassment faced by Mr. Farai Maguwu, Director of the Centre for Research and Development (CRD), who is arbitrarily detained since June 3, 2010 at the Harare remand prison.

According to the information received, on June 21, 2010, the High Court of Justice dismissed an application filed by Mr. Farai Maguwu seeking his release on bail. He was further removed from the hospital where he was recovering from a throat surgery and sent back to prison in spite of his dire state. Mr. Maguwu will appear in Court on June 23, 2010, and will ask his bail request to be reconsidered.

Mr. Farai Maguwu was arrested on June 3, 2010 in Mutare and accused of “communicating and publishing falsehoods against the State with the intention to cause prejudice to the security or economic interests of the country”, in contravention with Section 31 of the Criminal Law (Codification and Reform) Act, for which he would face up to 20 years’ imprisonment. He appeared in court on June 7, 2010 and then on June 10, 2010, when the Harare Lower Court denied him bail for the first time.

Mr. Maguwu is accused to have handed over a CRD report on human rights violations that are taking place in the diamond-mining area of Chiadzwa to the Kimberley Process Monitor during his visit to Zimbabwe in May 2010[1], which he denies. The report includes cases of unlawful arrests and detentions, torture and extra-judicial executions allegedly perpetrated by the police, the army and security agents, in connection with diamond mining, whether legal or not. The CRD has played a central role in recording human rights abuses carried out by state security agents against local people in the Marange diamond fields, and has frequently made this information available to Kimberley Process participant governments and working groups. However, Kimberley Process participant countries have so far failed to reach consensus on suspending Zimbabwe from membership.

While in detention, Mr. Farai Maguwu has been denied access to the medication he was taking to cure a sore throat, chest infections and fever he was suffering from. On June 11, 2010, without notifying his legal representatives or relatives, the Law and Order section of the police transferred Mr. Farai Maguwu from Harare remand prison to Matapi police station. He was returned to the Harare remand prison on the evening of June 13, 2010. When he asked for his medication, prison authorities stated that it was too late to resume the course and offered him substitute medication, which he declined out of suspicion.

On June 16, 2010, Mr. Maguwu's lawyer reported the facts to High Court Judge Justice Mr. Chinembiri Bhunu, who ordered Mr. Maguwu to be examined fortnightly by a medical practitioner of his own choice. On June 17, 2010, he was admitted at Avenues Clinic, where he underwent a throat surgery on June 18, 2010. On the same day, one of his guards, known as “Murigani”, put him into leg irons and chains as he was laying on his bed.

The Observatory condemns the arbitrary detention, the acts of ill-treatment and the judicial harassment faced by Mr. Farai Maguwu, which seem to merely aim at sanctioning his human rights activities, and calls upon the Zimbabwean authorities to grant Mr. Farai Maguwu access to adequate medical care and to immediately release him. The Observatory is also concerned about the message that Mr. Maguwu’s arbitrary detention sends to the community of human rights defenders denouncing human rights violations in the context of diamond mining activities.

Furthermore, the Observatory calls for the full respect of the fair trial standards in the framework of Mr. Farai Maguwu's upcoming hearings and urges the Zimbabwean authorities to dismiss the charges held against him.

Actions requested:

Please write to the authorities of Zimbabwe asking them to:

1. Guarantee in all circumstances the physical and psychological integrity of Mr. Farai Maguwu as well as all human rights defenders in the country;
2. Release Mr. Farai Maguwu immediately and unconditionally as his detention is arbitrary since it only aims at sanctioning his human rights activities;
3. Provide Mr. Farai Maguwu immediate and adequate medical care;
4. Order an immediate, thorough, effective and impartial investigation into the above-mentioned facts, the result of which must be made public, in order to identify all those responsible, bring them before a civil competent and impartial tribunal and apply to them the penal sanctions provided by the law;
5. Put an end to any kind of harassment - including at the judicial level - against Mr. Farai Maguwu as well as against all human rights defenders in Zimbabwe;
6. Conform with the provisions of the United Nations Declaration on Human Rights Defenders, adopted by the General Assembly of the United Nations on December 9, 1998, especially its Article 1, which states that “everyone has the right, individually and in association with others, to promote and to strive for the protection and realisation of human rights and fundamental freedoms at the national and international levels”, and Article 12.2, which provides that the State shall “take all necessary measures to ensure the protection by the competent authorities of everyone, individually and in association with others, against any violence, threats, retaliation, de facto or de jure adverse discrimination, pressure or any other arbitrary action as a consequence of his or her legitimate exercise of his or her rights”;
7. More generally, ensure in all circumstances the respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms in accordance with in accordance with the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and with international and regional human rights instruments ratified by Zimbabwe.

Addresses:

• President of Zimbabwe, Mr. Robert G. Mugabe, Office of the President, Private Bag 7700, Causeway, Harare, Zimbabwe, Fax : +263 4 708 211 / + 263.4.70.38.58
• Mr. Khembo Mohadi, Minister of Home Affairs, Ministry of Home Affairs, 11th Floor Mukwati Building, Private Bag 7703, Causeway, Harare, Zimbabwe, Fax : +263 4 726 716
• Mr. Giles Mutsekwa, Minister of Home Affairs, Ministry of Home Affairs, 11th Floor Mukwati Building, Private Bag 7703, Causeway, Harare, Zimbabwe, Fax : +263 4 726 716
• Mr. Patrick Chinamasa, Minister of Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs, Ministry of Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs, Fax: + 263 4 77 29 99 / +263 4 252 155
• Mr. Augustine Chihuri, Commissioner General of Police, Police Headquarters, P.O. Box 8807, Causeway, Harare, Zimbabwe, Fax : +263 4 253 212 / 728 768 / 726 084
• Mr. Justice Johannes Tomana, Attorney-General, Office of the Attorney, PO Box 7714, Causeway, Harare, Zimbabwe, Fax: + 263 4 77 32 47
• Mrs. Chanetsa, Office of the Ombudsman Fax: + 263 4 70 41 19
• Ambassador Mr. Chitsaka Chipaziwa, Permanent Mission of Zimbabwe to the United Nations in Geneva, Chemin William Barbey 27, 1292 Chambésy, Switzerland, Fax: + 41 22 758 30 44, Email: mission.zimbabwe@ties.itu.int
• Embassy of Zimbabwe in Brussels, 11 SQ Josephine Charlotte, 1200 Woluwe-Saint-Lambert, Belgium, Fax: + 32 2 762 96 05 / + 32 2 775 65 10, Email: zimbrussels@skynet.be

Please also write to the embassies of Zimbabwe in your respective country.

Paris-Geneva, June 22, 2010

Kindly inform us of any action undertaken quoting the code of this appeal in your reply.

The Observatory, a FIDH and OMCT venture, is dedicated to the protection of Human Rights Defenders and aims to offer them concrete support in their time of need. The Observatory was the winner of the 1998 Human Rights Prize of the French Republic.

To contact the Observatory, call the emergency line:
E-mail: Appeals@fidh-omct.org
Tel and fax FIDH + 33 (0) 1 43 55 25 18 / +33 1 43 55 18 80

Tel and fax OMCT + 41 (0) 22 809 49 39 / + 41 22 809 49 29

[1]The CRD is a member of the Kimberly Process Civil Society Coalition, an official observer of the international scheme. The Kimberley Process is a rough diamond certification scheme that seeks to eradicate the trade of conflict diamonds, responsible for fueling brutal conflicts.