Three activists kicked off Zimbabwe plane, denied bail

Last month, three Zimbabwean activists were forced off a plane and arrested in dramatic fashion on the eve of a high-profile international summit in Zimbabwe but were denied bail.

Robson Chere, Namatai Kwekweza and Samuel Gwenzi were charged with disorderly conduct for allegedly protesting the arrest of dozens of opposition supporters outside a court in June.

The magistrate’s ruling that they were likely to abscond, possibly commit other crimes and cause public dismay, according to Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights (ZLHR).

Lawyers representing the three said they were held for hours without access to legal representation and tortured shortly after their arrest.

The three were travelling to the Zimbabwean resort town of Victoria Falls for a conference when they were removed from a domestic flight.

Mr. Chell, the teachers’ union leader, made his first court appearance earlier this month with blood on his clothes and walking with a limp and in pain.

Ms Kwekweza, a women’s rights advocate, said she was not even in the country when the alleged crimes took place. Her lawyer said at an earlier hearing that she had a boot stuffed into her mouth during interrogation.

Gwenzi’s lawyer, a local councillor and human rights activist, also described how interrogators threatened to harm his family.

UN-appointed human rights experts called for the immediate release of the group and the dropping of all charges against them.

Zimbabwean President Emmerson Mnangagwa will formally take over as chairman of the Southern African Development Community (Sadc), a 16-nation regional bloc in southern Africa, on Saturday.

The summit will be held in Harare and will be attended by other heads of state.

Zimbabwean authorities have arrested more than 160 opposition politicians, activists and union leaders since mid-June, human rights groups say.

Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International said they found evidence of torture and argued the arrests set a dangerous tone for the SADC’s commitment to human rights under President Mnangagwa.

In a joint statement, two major human rights organizations urged Southern African Development Community leaders to condemn human rights violations in Zimbabwe and demand the release of those arrested.

Two politicians belonging to the main opposition Citizens’ Coalition for Change (CCC) were also arrested in recent days, ZLHR reported.