A judge revoked the bail of a prominent Zimbabwean rights activist and 17 other suspects after prosecutors formally charged them in a terrorism case that has been widely denounced as a sham.
Activist Jestina Mukoko appeared stunned as she heard the ruling from the dock and stared at Harare Magistrate Catherine Chimanda as her supporters burst into tears. Mukoko and the others have said they were tortured during an earlier stint in prison.
The suspects had been free on bail for two months. Chimanda said on Tuesday she was sending them back to prison because a formal indictment filed on Monday accused Mukoko and the others of sabotage, terrorism and banditry. Their trial was to start on July 4.
Britain’s Foreign Secretary David Miliband said in a statement on Tuesday that the development was “disappointing.”
“The Foreign Secretary has previously said the release of all political detainees is one of the principle conditions for full international re-engagement with Zimbabwe. This remains the case at this crucial time for Zimbabwe,” Miliband said.
Defense lawyer Charles Kwaramba said the suspects would file new bail applications.
“The law is being applied maliciously,” prominent human rights lawyer Beatrice Mtetwa, another defense attorney, told journalists.
In New York, Amnesty International said “the detention of 18 human rights and political activists on false accusations that they plotted to topple the Zimbabwe government casts a shadow over the new government and calls into question its commitment to halt persecutions of political opponents.”
The human rights organization called for the immediate and unconditional release of the activists.
The charges stem from an alleged plot to overthrow Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe. Neighboring governments have said they believe the allegations are baseless, and Mugabe opponents say the charges were fabricated to justify a clampdown on dissent.
Otto Saki, a member of Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights, said Chimanda had refused to allow defense lawyers to call government witnesses they said would testify members of Zimbabwe’s new coalition administration had agreed the trial should not go ahead.
“For the magistrate, overnight, to make a decision to refuse to hear further evidence effectively stifled the defense,” Saki said. “This is a disturbing violation of the fundamental right of an accused person to be heard.”
THE ‘MONSTER’: The Philippines on Saturday sent a vessel to confront a 12,000-tonne Chinese ship that had entered its exclusive economic zone The Philippines yesterday said it deployed a coast guard ship to challenge Chinese patrol boats attempting to “alter the existing status quo” of the disputed South China Sea. Philippine Coast Guard spokesman Commodore Jay Tarriela said Chinese patrol ships had this year come as close as 60 nautical miles (111km) west of the main Philippine island of Luzon. “Their goal is to normalize such deployments, and if these actions go unnoticed and unchallenged, it will enable them to alter the existing status quo,” he said in a statement. He later told reporters that Manila had deployed a coast guard ship to the area
A group of Uyghur men who were detained in Thailand more than one decade ago said that the Thai government is preparing to deport them to China, alarming activists and family members who say the men are at risk of abuse and torture if they are sent back. Forty-three Uyghur men held in Bangkok made a public appeal to halt what they called an imminent threat of deportation. “We could be imprisoned and we might even lose our lives,” the letter said. “We urgently appeal to all international organizations and countries concerned with human rights to intervene immediately to save us from
RISING TENSIONS: The nations’ three leaders discussed China’s ‘dangerous and unlawful behavior in the South China Sea,’ and agreed on the importance of continued coordination Japan, the Philippines and the US vowed to further deepen cooperation under a trilateral arrangement in the face of rising tensions in Asia’s waters, the three nations said following a call among their leaders. Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba, Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr and outgoing US President Joe Biden met via videoconference on Monday morning. Marcos’ communications office said the leaders “agreed to enhance and deepen economic, maritime and technology cooperation.” The call followed a first-of-its-kind summit meeting of Marcos, Biden and then-Japanese prime minister Fumio Kishida in Washington in April last year that led to a vow to uphold international
US president-elect Donald Trump is not typically known for his calm or reserve, but in a craftsman’s workshop in rural China he sits in divine contemplation. Cross-legged with his eyes half-closed in a pose evoking the Buddha, this porcelain version of the divisive US leader-in-waiting is the work of designer and sculptor Hong Jinshi (洪金世). The Zen-like figures — which Hong sells for between 999 and 20,000 yuan (US$136 to US$2,728) depending on their size — first went viral in 2021 on the e-commerce platform Taobao, attracting national headlines. Ahead of the real-estate magnate’s inauguration for a second term on Monday next week,
RSS