Amnesty slams Zim over missing activist
The government has been slammed by Amnesty International over the lack of police progress in their probe into the abduction of Itai Dzamara.
|||Johannesburg - Zimbabwe’s government has been slammed by Amnesty International over the lack of police progress in their probe into the abduction of Itai Dzamara, who staged a one-man protest against President Robert Mugabe, 92.
In a strongly worded statement on Wednesday Amnesty International said: “The absolute failure of the police to account for the enforced disappearance of Itai Dzamara, a pro-democracy activist and critic of President Mugabe’s government, highlights the culture of impunity for human rights violations in Zimbabwe, said Amnesty International on the anniversary of his abduction” .
The rights body said Zimbabwe authorities must initiate a “genuine search” for the abducted activist, who had several brushes with the law after he called for the resignation of the nonagenarian over rights abuses and the economic meltdown in that country.
“It has been a year since Itai Dzamara was disappeared without a trace, leaving his family in agonising uncertainty about his fate and whereabouts. This appears to be a well-orchestrated plot to silence a well-known government critic, and is a deeply troubling indictment of the state of freedom of expression in Zimbabwe,” said Deprose Muchena, Amnesty International’s Director for Southern Africa.
“The authorities must initiate a genuine search for Itai Dzamara’s safe return while establishing a full and impartial judge led commission of inquiry into the circumstances of his disappearance.”
Dzamara, a former journalist, was abducted on March 9, 2015 by five unidentified men while he was at a barbers’ shop in the Glen View suburb of Harare.
On Saturday 7 March, before his abduction, Dzamara had addressed a rally in the capital, where he called for mass action to address the deteriorating economic conditions in Zimbabwe.
Witnesses say that his abductors accused him of stealing cattle before handcuffing him and forcing him into a white truck with concealed number plates and driving off.
Although the men were in plain clothes, Dzamara was well-known to authorities and had previously been abducted, unlawfully detained and severely beaten by state security agents.
His family believe he is a victim of enforced disappearance.
Amnesty International said the enforced disappearance of government critics was becoming an established pattern in Zimbabwe.
In 2008, dozens of opposition and human rights activists were forcibly disappeared for weeks in a crackdown.
The state repeatedly denied its involvement, but many activists were later found in state custody, while the fate and whereabouts of others remain unknown.
Amnesty International urged Zimbabwe’s government to live up to its constitutional and international law obligations and ratify the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearances.
“The authorities must urgently implement measures to protect all people from enforced disappearances,” said Muchena.
“Enforced disappearance is a crime under international law which the Zimbabwean authorities have an obligation to investigate and prosecute. Itai Dzamara’s family deserves truth and justice.
“Those who are found to have been behind his abduction and concealment of his whereabouts must be brought to justice in fair, public proceedings. Impunity must not be allowed to thrive.”
African News Agency