Tortured Zimbabwean human rights campaigner abducted by statist agents is out on bail

JESTINA MUKOKO, the Zimbabwean human rights campaigner abducted by state security agents, has been freed on bail, along with four other activists.

The President, Robert Mugabe, had authorised their release, the detainees' lawyers said.

The release of Ms Mukoko and the others in Harare, constitutes an important victory for the Prime Minister, Morgan Tsvangirai, who had been pressing Mr Mugabe to let them go.

Ms Mukoko, who headed a group that documented state-sponsored acts of murder and torture committed before Mr Mugabe's June election run-off against Mr Tsvangirai, was held for weeks in secret locations.

She was beaten on the soles of her feet and forced to kneel on gravel during interrogation intended to force her to confess to recruiting youths for military training in Botswana. She wept in court as she related how her family believed she had been killed. Ms Mukoko was taken to a clinic in Harare, where she was being treated for high blood pressure and injuries that doctors said were consistent with torture. She lost a quarter of her weight in custody. On Monday a prison official unshackled her right foot from the hospital bed.

"Thank God I'm free," she said, speaking from hospital, where she was no longer being kept under police guard.

She and the other detainees still face charges of plotting sabotage. One of her lawyers, Andrew Makoni, said the charges were baseless and would not stick. Ms Mukoko's harsh arrest became an example of what Western diplomats see as Mr Mugabe's refusal to restore human rights, and an obstacle to the willingness of other nations to foot the bill for rebuilding Zimbabwe.

Six other activists remain in jail despite having been granted bail on Friday. Terms of their release require them to put up the deeds to property worth $US20,000 ($31,560) - but they have no property, Mr Makoni said.

Another important test loomed in the decision expected overnight by a High Court judge in Harare on whether Roy Bennett, the treasurer of the Movement for Democratic Change and Mr Tsvangirai's nominee as deputy agriculture minister, would be freed.

LNK

Tortured Zimbabwean human rights campaigner abducted by statist agents is out on bail

Tortured Zimbabwean human rights campaigner abducted by statist agents is out on bail

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