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Opposition
Leader Arrested and Beaten in Zimbabwe
MDC
Worried About Leader's Physical Condition
By James Butty, Voice of America (reproduced in entirety)
12 March 2007
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a Printable Version
Update
13 March 2007, 2:00 PM
According to Reuters, U.S. Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice
has condemned the actions of the Mugabe government in Zimbabwe
for the beating and detainment of opposition leader Morgan
Tsvangirai. She called for the immediate release of Tsvangirai
and other imprisoned protesters, holding “President
Robert Mugabe personally responsible for the safety of injured
opposition leaders.” The Reuters report claims that
Tsvangirai and other protesters were beaten, arrested and
then tortured in prison. Intiatlly, according to the report,
Tsvangirai was refused medical treatment but has since been
sent to the hospital “suffering from a head wound and
limping.”
Source: Reuters: Rice
demands release of opposition in Zimbabwe
Voice of America: MDC
Worried About Leader's Physical Condition
Police in Zimbabwe have confirmed killing one man and arresting
many top opposition leaders while breaking up a planned anti-government
rally in Harare Sunday. Zimbabwe's main opposition group,
the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) says police killed
Gift Tandare when they fired on innocent, unarmed people.
But a police spokesman says the dead man was a "thug"
who led an attack on officers. Meanwhile, the fate of MDC
leader Morgan Tsvangirai, who also was arrested Sunday, is
unknown.
Eliphas Mukonoweshuro is international affairs secretary for
the MDC. He said the MDC is concerned about Mr.Tsvangirai's
physical condition.
“Mr. Tsvangirai was severely assaulted by the police,
and we don’t know the state of his physical condition
at the moment because the police are refusing lawyers to have
access to him,” he said.
Mukonoweshuro said the MDC is worried about Mr. Tsvangirai
because soon after he was arrested the police shot and killed
one of the protesters dead.
He denied the MDC might have provoked the police, especially
since the authorities had said they would not permit any demonstration.
“The MDC did not provoke the police at all. This was
not an MDC rally. It was a rally that was organized by the
Christian Alliance of Zimbabwe under the auspices of what
they called Save Zimbabwe Campaign. And under the Public Order
and Security Act, religious organizations are exempt from
informing the police of their intention to hold any gathering.
Mr. Tsvangirai and his colleagues were going there to attend
a church service. So it was not a provocation at all, rather
it was the police trying to decide who should attend the church
service and who should not attend the church service,”
he said.
Mukonoweshuro said all political parties, including the ruling
ZANU-PF, had been invited to attend what he said was a church
service.
He said nothing, even an attack by the police, would stop
the MDC from continuing with its non-violent, peaceful democratic
resistance program.
“This is only the beginning, and I believe that we will
be going on until the people’s demands are met. The
people’s demands are very clear. They want a new constitution
ahead of any possible presidential election in 2008,”
Mukonoweshuro said.
He said the MDC is aware of the lost of innocent life. But
he said the police should be held responsible.
“We are not in any way responsible for the blood shed
that is going on. We don’t have weapons; we are not
fighting anybody. What people are saying is that they want
their economic rights, their social rights respected by this
government. It is this government which is using arms of war
to ensure that these rights continue to be stifled,”
he said.
Mukonoweshuro said the MDC would attempt again Monday to see
Mr. Tsvangirai and to inform the world about his condition.
He reiterated that the MDC would continue its peaceful, democratic
resistance to the Mugabe government.
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