Rights group targets Commonwealth leaders

Amnesty International planned to single out Zimbabwean and other Commonwealth leaders over alleged human rights abuses when they attended a meeting in the Australian city of Brisbane in October, Reuters reported on Tuesday. The organisation said about half of the 50 leaders expected to attend the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) were either personally accountable for human rights abuses or came from countries where abuses were widespread, according to the report.

Amnesty International said it planned to focus its protests against Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad, Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe, Kenyan President Daniel arap Moi and Sri Lankan President Chandrika Kumaratunga. The report said Mugabe would be targeted for inciting violence against white farmers, for political killings and for homophobic laws. “Robert Mugabe has a very repressive regime. Anybody who is in opposition to Mugabe is in great danger of being killed, tortured or imprisoned,” a spokesman for Amnesty International was quoted as saying.

Mahathir and Moi would be targeted because of the political repression and human rights abuses in their countries while Sri Lanka, torn by a bloody civil war since 1983, would be singled out because government and Tamil Tiger rebels were guilty of human rights abuses, the report said.