OVERVIEW

July was a busy month in terms of the number of human rights violations which took place. The National Constitutional Assembly (NCA) took to the streets on 12 July protesting in favour of constitutional reform. 128 NCA activists were arrested in Harare and 10 in Mutare following these demonstrations. In both instances, the police are said to have assaulted and tortured some of the activists during arrest and subsequent detention. Furthermore, the activists were detained in inhabitable police cells. The Forum deplores the use of assault and torture by the police during arrests and detention. The Forum further urges the responsible authorities to abide by the prohibitions of torture as espoused in the United Nations Convention against Torture and other Forms of Cruel, Inhuman and degrading Treatment and Punishment.

On 2 July, Ms Trudy Stevenson, who is an MP for Harare North, Mr Linos Mushonga the faction’s Acting Organising Secretary for Harare Province and Mrs Simangile Manyere, the Provincial Treasurer, were attacked while coming from a rally in Mabvuku. The attack was alleged to have been perpetrated by youths of the Anti-Senate Faction of the MDC. It is also alleged that the youths stole some cash, cell phones and other property from the victims. The Forum once again condemns violence of any sort and castigates the alleged perpetrators of the above-mentioned incident in the strongest possible terms. The Forum further urges all political parties to observe democratic processes and the constitutional entitlements of the people.

A case of a wrongful shooting took place on 15 July when members of the police shot an innocent passenger, who was travelling in a commuter omnibus. The victim was shot on her buttocks and she had to undergo an operation at Parirenyatwa Hospital to have the bullet removed. The Forum urges the police to exercise extreme caution when executing their duties.

Totals: 1 July 2006 – 31 July 2006

Cumulative Totals: 1 January 2006 – 31 July 2006

The graph should be read along with the table depicting the monthly totals of violations from 1 January 2006 to 31 July 2006. The total quantifiable number of victims reported in July 2006 is 162.

Key Abbreviations

AIPPA – Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act PTUZ – Progressive Teachers Union of Zimbabwe

BSA - Broadcasting Services Act UMP – Uzumba Maramba Pfungwe

CIO – Central Intelligence Organisation ZANU PF – Zimbabwe African National Union Patriotic Front

MDC – Movement for Democratic Change ZCTU – Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions

MP – Member of Parliament ZNA – Zimbabwe National Army

ZPS – Zimbabwe Prison Service ZRP – Zimbabwe Republic Police

NAGG - National Alliance for Good Governance ZNLWVA – Zimbabwe National Liberation War Veterans

NCA – National Constitutional Assembly Association

OVT – Organised Violence and Torture ZIMTA – Zimbabwe Teachers Association

POSA – Public Order and Security Act ZUPCO – Zimbabwe United Passenger Company

Sources: The information contained in this report is derived from statements made to the Public Interest Unit of the Zimbabwe Human Rights Forum, statements taken by a network of human rights activists and newspaper reports,

Notes to the tables:

Torture:

All cases of torture fall under the definition of torture according to the general definition given in the United Nations Convention against Torture and Other Forms of Cruel, Inhuman and Degrading Treatment and Punishment.

The four elements of torture are:

1. Severe pain and suffering, whether physical or mental

2. Intentionally inflicted

3. With a purpose

4. By a state official or another individual acting with the acquiescence of the state.

Those individuals referred to in point # 4 include the ZRP, ZNA, ZPS and the ZNLWVA (as a reserve force of the ZNA) and by any other grouping when directly sanctioned by the state.

Unlawful arrest and detention:

Arrest by the Zimbabwe Republic Police (ZRP) with no reasonable suspicion that an offence has been committed. Detention thereafter for a period exceeding 48 hours without access to redress through the courts or subsequent release without charge.

Abduction/kidnapping:

A kidnapping by a member(s) of an organised group that is not the ZRP, political party, ZNLWVA, ZNA, MDC, Zanu PF etc

Disappearance:

Kidnapped persons whose whereabouts remained unknown at the time of reporting. Their whereabouts have still to be ascertained through follow up reports or further investigation.

Property related

These are incidents in which property rights have been violated. This includes arson, property damage and destruction and theft.

Cases of Political Violence

Note: The identities of victims whose names have not been published in the press and are not public officials are protected. This is done in order to protect the victim from further violence, intimidation and possible recriminatory attacks.

The purpose of this report is to record the nature of the politically motivated violence and intimidation that continues to prevail in the country. The Monthly Political Violence Reports are primarily based on victims’ accounts, accompanied by medical evidence where possible, obtained from member organisations of the Human Rights Forum and other partner organisations. Use is also made of press reports on politically motivated violence. The Monthly Political Violence Report cannot therefore be considered as the exhaustive record of all incidents of politically-motivated violence in Zimbabwe in the period under review. Nevertheless, every incident reported to the Human Rights Forum directly or through its members is meticulously documented and included in the reports. Care is also taken to record the incidents in the language in which they were reported to the Forum.

The situation prevailing in the country is such that it has not been possible to verify all of these accounts. The Human Rights Forum has done what it can to verify the reports, and is satisfied that the vast majority of them are substantially true. It is also not possible to rule out whether a victim’s account is exaggerated or contains inaccuracies.

All reports derived from the press are denoted with the symbol ∑.

Harare

Chitungwiza

09 July 2006

The victim claims that on the date in question, he was waiting about 30 metres outside St Mary’s police station for his colleagues to pick him up to go and address a gathering. He is the Chairman for MDC in Chitungwiza. A car with no number plates came next to him and a group of eight men forced him into it. They accused him of inciting people not to pay commuter fares that had been previously hiked. The victim reports that he was taken to the Army Barracks along Seke Road. The eight men left him there after telling the Army that the he was an MDC activist and was troublesome. He alleges that he was slapped during interrogation. He was told to lie down and was assaulted with sticks all over his body. He further reports that the assaults only stopped after the intervention of a senior police officer. He was left outside the Army Barracks and he found his way home. During the interrogation the main thrust of the questions were towards finding out the names of some soldiers who were suspected of training youths for mass protest. They said they only wanted 2 names. After the assault, the men threatened to kill him if ever he reported the incident to the press or any other way. They cautioned him that they were watching him and told him that if he reported they would charge him with throwing MDC fliers into the Army Camp.

Harare Central

12 July 2006

128 National Constitutional Assembly activists, including four women with infants, were arrested in Harare and detained at the Harare Central Police Station. 53 of these activists reported that they were harassed, assaulted and some of them tortured during the arrest and subsequent detention. The victims report that on the date in question, they were demonstrating for constitutional reform along Nelson Mandela Avenue. The procession had started at Rezende Street and had gone as far as the Parliament building. It is when the procession was going back that they met with members of police anti riot unit who ordered them to sit on the ground. The victims allege that they were assaulted as they were being bundled up into police vehicles. It is further alleged that the assaults were at the instigation a well -known member of the Zimbabwe National Liberation War Veterans Association. The victims report that they were taken to Harare Central Police Station where they were put in filthy cells. One of the activists is said to have collapsed due to hunger and inhabitable conditions of detention. She was taken to Parirenyatwa Hospital where she could not get treatment because the doctors were on strike. Back at Harare Central Police Station she was put back in cells until the Officer in Charge of the cells (a woman) tried to get the Law and Order section to discharge her. The Law and Order officers denied this request stating that the woman should die in the cell so that Madhuku (NCA National Chairperson) could get money. She was then held in their office and not the cells. She, together with the rest of the activists was taken to court on 15 July 2006. They were released on free bail. The NCA Activists were supposed to have appeared at the Rotten Row Magistrates Court on 20 July 2006, but the hearing was postponed because of the non - availability of the Public Prosecutor.

Meanwhile, a similar demonstration took place the same day in Mutare. About 10 members of NCA were arrested while protesting in favour of a new constitution. The victims allege that the police assaulted them during the arrest and subsequent detention.

15 July 2006

The victim claims that on the day in question, she was a passenger in a commuter omnibus when two police officers belonging to the cycle patrol unit approached the driver. The driver had parked the vehicle along Park Lane and it was almost full of other passengers. One of the officers went in front of the vehicle and hooked his bicycle on the front bumper whilst the other one remained at the back. The victim was sitting near the back of the vehicle. She reports that the officer at the back discharged his firearm shooting her in the process. She was shot on her buttocks and the bullet had to undergo an operation at Parirenyatwa Hospital to remove the bullet.

19 July2006

18 residents, including two journalists, were arrested during a demonstration organised by Combined Harare Residents Association (CHRA). The residents marched to the Town House in a bid to hand over a petition with a number of demands concerning the collapsed service delivery, the inconsistent billing system and what they regarded as the illegal re-appointment of the Commission running the City of Harare. The victims allege that the police assaulted them with booted feet before they were forced into police vehicles. They were taken to Harare Central Police Station where they were detained in the cells, which were filthy. They further allege that the officers at the Police Station threw some sanitizing liquid in the cells while they were in there and some people started to vomit. They were released the following day after paying admission of guilty fines.

25 July 2006

The victim, an MDC activist, claims that on the date in question, he went to witness the opening of the Parliament. While observing the proceedings, he was pulled from the crowd by a police officer who charged that he was likely to breach the peace by his presence there. The police officer then ordered other police officers to beat him up and get rid of him. He was assaulted with booted feet all over his upper body mainly his chest. He fell down and was asked to roll on the ground, and when the police officers went to deal with other activists, the victim got up and ran away.

Tafara-Mabvuku

02 July 2006

∑. Pro-Senate Faction of the Movement for Democratic Change, Ms Trudy Stevenson, who is an MP for Harare North, Mr Linos Mushonga the Faction’s Acting Organising Secretary for Harare Province and Mrs Simangile Manyere, the Provincial Treasurer were attacked while coming from a rally in Mabvuku. The attack was alleged to have been perpetrated by youths of the Anti-Senate Faction of the MDC. The perpetrators are also reported to have stolen cash, cell phones and other property from the victims. According to Ms Stevenson, the incident took place while she and her colleagues were standing out side her maroon VW Golf vehicle near Circle Cement when 8-10 members of the Anti- Senate faction of the MDC approached them. Fearing the mob would attack them, Mr Mushonga allegedly asked Ms Stevenson for the car keys but she could not give them to him because the doors did not work and the car had an immobiliser. After a while Ms Stevenson and her colleagues managed to get into the car, and the assailants began throwing bricks into the car and dragged Mr Mushonga out of the car. The assailants used bricks, stones and sticks to assault the victims and throughout the attack allegedly called Ms Stevenson’s name.

Full alphabetical list of reported deaths related to political violence 1 January 2006 to 31 July 2006 recorded indicating name, political affiliation, date of death, constituency and province.

TOTAL: 0

The table below and the graphs on page 3 above depict the number of violations committed on the persons whose circumstances are described in the report. One individual may have been subjected to many violations and thus appear under several categories of violations.

Monthly totals of human rights violations from 1 January 2006 to 31 July 2006

Administrative Map of ZIMBABWE

Zambia

Mozambique

The Zimbabwe Human Rights NGO Forum (also known as the “Human Rights Forum”) is a coalition comprising 16 member organisations. It has been in existence since January 1998 when non-Governmental organisations working in the field of human rights joined together to provide legal and psychosocial assistance to the victims of the Food Riots of January 1998.

The Human Rights Forum has now expanded its objectives to assist victims of organised violence, using the following definition:

“Organised violence” means the inter-human infliction of significant avoidable pain and suffering by an organised group according to a declared or implied strategy and/or system of ideas and attitudes. It comprises any violent action, which is unacceptable by general human standards, and relates to the victims’ mental and physical well-being.”

The Human Rights Forum operates a Research and Documentation Unit and offers legal services through the Public Interest Unit of the (formerly the Legal Unit of the ZHRF.)

Core member organisations of the Human Rights Forum are:

• Amani Trust (AT)

• Amnesty International (Zimbabwe) (AI (Z))

• Catholic Commission for Justice and Peace (CCJP)

• Gays and Lesbians of Zimbabwe (GALZ)

• Human Rights Trust of Southern Africa (SAHRIT)

• Legal Resources Foundation (LRF)

• Media Monitoring Project of Zimbabwe (MMPZ)

• Nonviolent Action and Strategies for Social Change (NOVASC)

• Transparency International (Zimbabwe) (TI (Z))

• Zimbabwe Association for Crime Prevention and the Rehabilitation of the Offender (ZACRO)

• Zimbabwe Association of Doctors for Human Rights (ZADHR)

• Zimbabwe Civic Education Trust (ZIMCET)

• Zimbabwe Human Rights Association (ZimRights)

• Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights (ZLHR)

• Zimbabwe Peace Project (ZPP)

• Zimbabwe Women Lawyers Association (ZWLA)

The Human Rights Forum can be contacted through:

The Administrator, P O Box 9077, Harare – email: admin@hrforum.co.zw

The Public Interest Unit, P O Box 9077, Harare – email: legal@hrforum.co.zw

The Research Unit, P O Box 9077, Harare – email: research@hrforum.co.zw

Address: 8^th Floor Bluebridge North, Eastgate, Harare; Telephone: 250511 - Fax: 250494

The International Liaison Office, 56- 64 Leonard Street London EC 2A 4LT– email: IntLO@hrforumzim.com

Telephone+44-20-7065-0945

Website: www.hrforumzim.com

Previous reports of the Human Rights Forum can be found on our website.

To report political violence incidents occurring to yourself or someone you know, please contact us on the above addresses.