Lawyers protest re-arrest of MDC activists

HARARE - Lawyers representing two members of Prime Minister Morgan
Tsvangirai's MDC party re-arrested last week despite being granted bail by
the High Court have requested the Law Society of Zimbabwe (LSZ) to seek
explanation from the government over the matter.

Kisimusi Dhlamini and Gandhi Mudzingwa, the two MDC activists who are
facing what the party says are trumped up charges of banditry and terrorism,
are presently under prison guard at a private hospital while their
co-accused freelance journalist Andrison Manyere is reportedly on the run
after police launched a manhunt for him.

"We write to bring to you this serious violation of our client's
freedoms," Alec Muchadehama, the lawyer representing the MDC activists wrote
to the LSZ.

"We write to request that you seriously look into this matter and get
explanations from the Ministries of Justice and Home affairs, the Attorney
General's Office and their officers in regard to their conduct or
misconduct.

"We also write to request that you register our concern as lawyers in
regard to how our clients have been mistreated from the time of their
initial kidnapping," Muchadehama wrote.

It was not possible to establish immediately what steps, if any, the
LSZ would take regarding the matter.

Mudzingwa, Dhalmini and Manyere were granted on April 17. The two MDC
activists were admitted to Avenues Clinic in Harare for treatment to
injuries they incurred while being tortured by their captors. Manyere, who
was also tortured, was not admitted at the clinic.

Three days after their release on bail, Mudzingwa and Dhalmini were
re-arrested by police without any due process being followed, according to
their lawyers.

Mudzingwa, Dhalmini and Manyere were among more than 30 MDC activists
and human rights defenders abducted by state secret police between October
and December 2008.

More than 20 of the abductees have been accounted for and produced in
court where they have been charged with plotting to topple Mugabe or
engaging in acts of banditry.

The whereabouts of another seven activists are unknown, raising fears
they may have died at the hands of their captors who have been accused of
severely torturing their victims.