Americans convicted on weapons charges

Zimbabwe's High Court on Friday convicted three US citizens on charges of illegal arms possession and trying to load dangerous weapons aboard an aircraft, Reuters reported. The three, Gary Blanchard, 35, John Dixon, 35, and Joseph Pettijohn, 34, had argued that they were missionaries and had taken the weapons to the war-torn Democratic Republic of the Congo for self-defence. They were arrested on 7 March at Harare airport after leaving the Congo, when they tried to load the weapons aboard a flight to Zurich. Sentencing is on Monday and they face a maximum sentence of life imprisonment. The Americans claimed they were tortured in custody with electric shocks to the genitals. This was accepted by the Supreme Court last month, which awarded them part of the cost of their trial, Reuters reported. They said they had not declared the weapons, which included AK 47 rifles, automatic pistols, shotguns, silencers and an assortment of knives, because they were afraid they would draw attention to themselves, leading to investigations which would have delayed their departure.