Amnesty International says violence threatens fair election

Amnesty International said this week that violence, intimidation, torture and extra-judicial murders in Zimbabwe had
made it unlikely that the parliamentary elections later this month will be free and fair.

In a new report after more than a month of research and monitoring of the situation, the human rights group accused President Robert Mugabe and his ruling ZANU-PF party of deliberately violations as part of a state-orchestrated campaign of terror in the run-up to the 24-25 June elections.

Since the campaign of terror started after Mugabe lost a referendum calling for the seizure of white-owned farm land in February, Amnesty said it had found that human rights violations and torture had resulted in at least 30 deaths, mostly involving opposition supporters. It said thousands of people
had been rendered homeless.

"What the two teams of Amnesty researchers found here in Zimbabwe are that conditions which affect the free movement and free association of people, which are normal statutory rights, have been severly compromised," Amensty's Africa director, Maina Kiai, told IRIN on Friday after a visit to Zimbabwe.
"It is a situation which will affect the ability of Zimbabweans to vote freely."

Amnesty researchers confirmed news reports that the surgery in a Harare suburb of Chenjerai Hunzvi, the Polish-trained doctor who heads the veterans association spearheading the occupation of more than 1,000 white-owned farms had been used to torture opponents of the ruling party.

It also cited a number of cases of torture and intimidation of supporters or perceived supporters of the main opposition party, the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC). One case involved that of a young woman who was chased out of her home, tied to a tree with her husband, and beaten by a mob for several hours. In another case, an MDC candidate, Blessing Chebendo, was
doused with petrol and only saved from being burnt alive because he had grabbed and held onto one of his attackers. In these incidents and several others outlined the police failed to intervene.

The report recalled the amnesty for the perpetrators of a campaign of terror and thousands of executions by the army in the southern Matabeleland province in the 1980s: "This same pattern of impunity is evident in this recent wave of politically motivated violence. The official flouting of key
court rulings and threats against the indpendence of the judiciary have also componounded the current problem of impunity."

It urged the international community to protest the terror, and said Mugabe should stop making inflammatory public statements. It urged the police to ensure the safety of the public as well as journalists and election observers.

"Governments around the world, including in Southern Africa, should condemn the abuse of human rights in Zimbabwe," Amnesty said.

For the full report, see Amnesty International's website on
http://www.amnesty.org