23rd August 2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n
As Restoration of Human Rights (ROHR) Zimbabwe we are greatly concerned by the blatant disregard of the Zimbabwean people\u2019s Constitutional rights by the government. In recent months there has been a systematic targeting of civil society leaders, human rights defenders and some members of the opposition party in direct contravention of the Constitution under Section 53, Freedom from torture or cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, Section 59, Freedom to demonstrate and petition and Section 61, Freedom of expression and freedom of the media. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
We have observed a worrying pattern of\nestablished State repression similar to events that occurred on the 1st of\nAugust 2018 and January 2019. There has also been an increase in the number of\npeople who have been charged with Subverting Constitutional Government as in\nthe cases of Tatenda Mombeyarara, George Makoni, Frank Mpahlo, Gamuchirai\nMukura and Farirai Gumbonzvanda, human rights defenders, who were arrested and\ncharged with Subverting Constitutional Government on the 20th of May 2019. On\nthe 7th of June in response to those charges, Justice Chitapi stated that the\nState had arrested these individuals to investigate and did not investigate\nfirst. The Justice concluded that by these individuals attending the CANVAS\nworkshop in Prague it did not show subversion and as a result they were\nreleased.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
For some of the people who have been\ndetained and arrested, the government has failed in their duty in according\nthem their rights under Section 50, Rights of the arrested and detained,\nSection 51, Right to dignity and Section 53, Freedom from torture. When Job\nSikhala was arrested on the 10th of July 2019, his lawyers could not locate him\nat Harare Central Police where he had been detained as he had been surreptitiously\nmoved to Gutu under blindfold without his lawyer\u2019s knowledge.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This year has also seen an increase in\nabductions and torture as in the cases of Obert Masaraure, ARTUZ President, who\nreceived severe beatings, Tatenda Mombeyarara, MDC Youth Leader, who sustained\na broken leg, fractured hand, damaged kidneys and chemical burns on his skin,\nSamantha Kureya, a comedian, who is better known as Gonyeti was abducted and\nbeaten for her satires on the 21st of August 2019 despite the fact that every\nZimbabwean citizen has the right to freedom of expression. The government has\nbeen very lax in their investigations with regards to these abductions and\ntorture and as a result no one has been brought to account for them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Demonstrations are a right that is\nenshrined in the Constitution, but the government have not permitted citizens\nto exercise this right. The demonstrations that were scheduled for the 16th of\nAugust in Harare, 19th of August in Bulawayo, 20th of August in Gweru and the\n22nd of August in Masvingo were not permitted to be held. In Harare the police\nused tear gas, excessive force and brutality to disperse the people who were\npeacefully gathered as they waited for the permission to proceed and in other\ncities there was a strong police presence preventing people from assembling\ntogether and demonstrating.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It is imperative that the Government\nobserves in full provisions laid out in the 2013 Constitution.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\nEND<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
23rd August 2019 As Restoration of Human Rights (ROHR) Zimbabwe we are greatly concerned by the blatant disregard of the Zimbabwean people\u2019s Constitutional rights by the government. In recent months there has been a systematic targeting of civil society leaders, human rights defenders and some members of the opposition party in direct contravention of the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/rohr-zimbabwe.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/786"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/rohr-zimbabwe.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/rohr-zimbabwe.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rohr-zimbabwe.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rohr-zimbabwe.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=786"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/rohr-zimbabwe.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/786\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":788,"href":"https:\/\/rohr-zimbabwe.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/786\/revisions\/788"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/rohr-zimbabwe.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=786"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rohr-zimbabwe.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=786"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rohr-zimbabwe.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=786"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}