Zimbabwe: Opposition Activists Wrongfully Denied Bail

(Johannesburg) – Zimbabwe’s authorities should immediately take measures to end the prolonged pretrial detention of over 70 opposition activists, most of them young people, who have been held since June 16, 2024.

That day, police raided the home of an opposition leader in a suburb of Harare, the capital, and arrested people commemorating the Day of the African Child. Those arrested face charges of participating in a gathering with the intent to promote public violence, breaches of peace or bigotry, and disorderly conduct. A magistrate court on June 27 denied them bail on the grounds that the detainees were likely to commit similar offenses if released. The High Court upheld the decision on July 17, leaving the detainees languishing in prolonged pretrial detention at Harare’s Chikurubi Maximum Prison.

“Zimbabwe’s criminal justice system has time and again violated the rights of people aligned to the opposition,” said Idriss Ali Nassah, senior Africa researcher at Human Rights Watch. “Pretrial detention should be no longer than necessary, and no one should be unjustly detained for long and arbitrary periods.”

Lawyers for the detainees told Human Rights Watch that since their arrest, the activists have been beaten and tortured, denied the rights to humane treatment, bail, medical care, and other basic rights.

Agency Gumbo, one of the detainees’ lawyers said that “there is selective application of the law, and the right to bail is restricted to anyone arrested in a political context. The function of partisan interests in the prosecution of opponents is apparent in this case.”

Gumbo said that some of the detainees had suffered severe injuries from police beatings, and doctors had recommended that the injured be admitted to the hospital, but the courts refused to release them. He said that they do not have adequate medical care and the detainees also lack proper food, sanitation, and clothing.

Maureen Dinha is among those detained and has a 1-year-old child with her in prison. The Zimbabwe Prison and Correctional Service posted on X, formerly known as Twitter, on July 23 that it was “committed to providing a safe and supportive environment for everyone in its care, including children.” Also among those detained is Nicole Chabata, a teenager who is supposed to take final secondary school examinations in October, and Tambudzai Makororo, whose leg was fractured during the June 16 arrest. Makororo’s child died while she was in custody, but the authorities refused her permission to attend the funeral or to bury her son.

Since taking power in a military coup in 2017, the administration of President Emmerson Mnangagwa, which initially promoted itself as a “new dispensation” that respects basic rights, has arrested and prosecuted a number of peaceful activists on baseless charges. The Zimbabwe security forces have increasingly committed serious violations, including violent attacks, abductions, torture, arbitrary arrests, and other abuses against the opposition, government critics, and activists. The arrest and prolonged pretrial detention of these activists is just the most recent example.

The International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), to which Zimbabwe is a party, provides for bail for individuals in pretrial detention: “It shall not be the general rule that persons awaiting trial shall be detained in custody, but release may be subject to guarantees to appear for trial.”

International human rights law provides that any pretrial restrictions on criminal suspects be consistent with the right to liberty, the presumption of innocence, and the right to equality under the law. The UN Human Rights Committee, the international body that provides authoritative analysis of the ICCPR, has stated that pretrial detention imposed on suspects as a means of punishment, among others, is inconsistent with those rights.

Many of these rights are also protected under Zimbabwe’s Constitution, including in section 50(1)(d), which states that any person who is arrested “must be released unconditionally or on reasonable conditions, pending a charge or trial, unless there are compelling reasons justifying their continued detention.” The constitution further provides for the pretrial rights of detainees and guarantees freedom from torture and cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment or punishment.

“The prolonged pretrial detention of political activists is just the latest example of the failure of President Mnangagwa’s government to promote, protect and respect basic human rights,” Nassah said. “Concerned governments should be pressing the administration of President Mnangagwa to uphold the rule of law.”