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Four Zimbabwean human rights activists are challenging their arrest, deportation and permanent banning from Malawi.
The activists, representing the umbrella Zimbabwe Crisis Group, were arrested a day before the 14 January Southern African Development Community (SADC) summit and returned to Harare as the summit got under way.
Malawian police told the group, which had planned on making representations to leaders at the summit and on consulting civil society groups, that their presence in the country was a threat to national security. Their passports were endorsed, making it impossible for them to return.
ZimRights director Bidi Munyaradzi, who was one of those arrested, told IRIN on Tuesday that a board meeting on 2 February would decide "on the best way to challenge the classification and deportation".
He said they had already written to the Malawian high commissioner in Zimbabwe asking for government clarification on the incident. "We have further said that if we get no clarification we will make an appeal at an international level, especially since we did not break any Malawi or international laws," Munyaradzi added.
This article was produced by IRIN News while it was part of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. Please send queries on copyright or liability to the UN. For more information: https://shop.un.org/rights-permissions
