Ongoing judicial harassment of ZIMRIGHTS members

April 27, 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), has received new information and requests your urgent intervention in the following situation in Zimbabwe.

New information:

The Observatory has been informed by reliable sources about the arbitrary arrest and subsequent release of Messrs. Joel Hita, Regional Chairperson of the Zimbabwe Human Rights Association (ZIMRIGHTS) in Masvingo, Lio Chamahwinya, Ms. Olivia Gumbo, ZIMRIGHTS National Programme Manager, and Ms. Cynthia Manjoro, member of ZIMRIGHTS.

According to the information received, during the evening of April 26, 2010, a group of police officers arrested Messrs. Joel Hita, Lio Chamahwinya, Ms. Olivia Gumbo and Ms. Cynthia Manjoro while they were preparing the photo exhibition entitled “Reflections” for the pictorial launch at the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU) hall in the city of Masvingo. The “Reflections” exhibition is part of a national healing programme that aims at inciting reflections on the political violence that occurred in 2007.

The police officers stated the exhibition should immediately stop, impounded the pictures and took Messrs. Joel Hita, Lio Chamahwinya, Ms. Olivia Gumbo and Ms. Cynthia Manjoro to the Masvingo Police Station. Mr. Chamahwinya, Ms. Gumbo and Ms. Manjoro remained detained for two hours before being released. As for Mr. Hita, he was released on April 27 around 5 pm, and will appear in court on April 28, 2010, at 9 am, under the charge of “holding a public meeting without notifying the authorities”, although the exhibition launch was a private function.

The Observatory recalls that on March 23, 2010, the Executive Director of ZIMRIGHTS, Mr. Okay Machisa, was arrested at the Gallery Delta of Harare while he was checking on the preparation of the same photo exhibition, and subsequently released (See background information).

The Observatory condemns the arbitrary arrest of Messrs. Joel Hita, Lio Chamahwinya, Ms. Olivia Gumbo and Ms. Cynthia Manjoro, and urges the Zimbabwe authorities to immediately dismiss the charges held against Mr. Joel Hita, as well as to put an end to the continuing harassment - including at the judicial level - against members of ZIMRIGHTS, which seem to merely aim at sanction their human rights activities.

Background information:

On November 2009, several armed men waited at Mr. Okay Machisa home’s gate as he returned from a meeting. They left after Mr. Machisa alerted the police and colleagues.

On February 16, 2010, Mr. Machisa received by email an anonymous message from a person identifying himself as Dzapasi Mumunda warning him to be careful with his work. The message said “Be careful my friend a number of people at my workplace have been assigned to bring you down. I refused to be involved. Be careful especially at your home”.

On February 25, 2010, Messrs. Nunurai Jena, Netsai Kaitano and Jabilusa Tshuma received different anonymous messages on their cell phones ordering them to put an end to their work on the constitution making process and threatening them with death. The messages also asked them about their motives to work within the association. All the messages were sent from the same number which is now unreachable. Mr. Okay Machisa also received a threatening message telling him to stay out of the country. The message said: “You enjoy flying in and out of the country demonizing your country, why don’t you go and stay there? They monitor, soon you will all stay out”. On March 2, 2010, ZIMRIGHTS filed a police report under number IR 030 117.

On March 17 and 19, 2010, the police interrogated Mr. Okay Machisa and Ms. Olivia Gumbo about the objective and intents of the “Reflections” exhibition, scheduled to open on March 24, 2009. On March 23, 2010, at 11 am, the police took photos of the exhibition. Previously, ZIMRIGHTS had sent a notification letter for the exhibition to the police and had previously acquired an authorisation from the Harare High Court.

On March 23, 2010, at 4 pm, Mr. Okay Machisa was arrested at the Gallery Delta of Harare, while he was checking on the preparation of the exhibition. At around 3.45 pm, two truckloads of uniformed and plain clothes police had descended on the premises of the Gallery Delta in Central Harare and proceeded, without a warrant or justifiable cause, to remove the 65 photographs which formed the exhibition. During the raid, the 20 police officers acted in a threatening and intimidating manner towards Mr. Machisa, who was held in Harare Central Police Station, before being released at 6.30 pm, following the intervention of lawyers from Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights (ZLHR). The Officer Commanding Harare Central District advised that he had “not approved” the launch and gave Mr. Machisa seven days to provide “letters of consent from individuals and organisations” appearing in the photographs, failing which he threatened to launch unspecified criminal charges against Mr. Machisa.

On March 24, 2010, at 3 pm, following an urgent chamber application filed by ZLHR lawyers, the High Court ordered the police to return the photo exhibits to ZIMRIGHTS within an hour, with which the police complied.

Actions requested:

Please write to the authorities of Zimbabwe asking them to:

1. Guarantee in all circumstances the physical and psychological integrity of Messrs. Joel Hita, Lio Chamahwinya, Ms. Olivia Gumbo and Ms. Cynthia Manjoro as well as of all ZIMRIGHTS members and all human rights defenders in Zimbabwe;
2. Put an end to any kind of harassment - including at the judicial level - against Messrs. Joel Hita, Lio Chamahwinya, Ms. Olivia Gumbo and Ms. Cynthia Manjoro as well as against all human rights defenders in Zimbabwe;
3. Conform with the provisions of the UN 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”;
4. 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, co-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, co-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, 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, April 27, 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.

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E-mail: Appeals@fidh-omct.org
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