Doctors’ affidavits seen by the Guardian reveal a pattern of torture of
many of the 30 political and human rights activists held by the state
for months. Nine of the prisoners seen by doctors were subjected to
simulated drowning, being hung by their wrists in handcuffs and beaten,
and high-voltage electric shocks.
One man was hung upside down from a tree and dumped into a water-filled
drum until he passed out. A 72-year-old man was held in a deep freeze
before scalding water was poured on his genitals.
Human rights lawyers say the detainees have been tortured to force them
to falsely confess to bomb attacks on police stations or plots to
overthrow Mugabe, in an attempt by his regime to justify further state
violence against the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC).
The MDC leader, Morgan Tsvangirai, had demanded the release of the
detainees, who include his own security chief and a former close aide,
as a condition for being sworn in tomorrow as prime minister in a
power-sharing government with Mugabe.
A deal was reached between the MDC and Nicholas Goche, a senior
negotiator in Mugabe’s ruling Zanu-PF, for 16 detainees to be released.
Some were to be taken to hospital last Friday and then quietly freed by
a judge in order for the regime to save face. Eight were to appear in
court yesterday on the understanding they would be freed. But none of
the detainees were produced after the prisons commissioner,
Major-General Paradzai Zimondi, refused to hand them over.
Zimondi is a hardline member of the Joint Operations Command (JOC),
which acts as Mugabe’s security cabinet. JOC organised the campaign of
terror, beatings and killings against MDC supporters during last year’s
elections. The general has threatened violence against the opposition,
and recently he burst into a court and broke up a hearing on the
release of some of the detainees.
The MDC is interpreting Zimondi’s intervention as evidence that the JOC
intends to subvert the power-sharing administration by continuing the
violence and intimidation against Tsvangirai’s officials and supporters.
Suspicion over Mugabe’s intent has been further reinforced by what the
MDC says is false allegations of corruption laid against seven of its
MPs last week in an attempt to overturn the party’s newly won majority
in parliament.
The tortured detainees include Kisimusi "Chris" Dhlamini, a former
officer in the Central Intelligence Organisation, who became the MDC’s
head of security.
According to an affidavit from a doctor who examined Dhlamini in
Harare’s maximum security prison, he was repeatedly assaulted,
including being subjected to simulated drowning, hung by his wrists in
handcuffs, beaten and burned. The affidavit said there were injuries
consistent with high-voltage electric shocks as well.
Gandi Mudzingwa, Tsvangirai’s former personal assistant, was severely
beaten with sticks, kicked, subjected to simulated drowning and had his
feet smashed with bricks.
Doctors’ affidavits on other prisoners show they were subjected to
similar tortures, particularly having their heads forced underwater. A
72-year-old MDC activist, Fidelis Chiramba, was forced into a freezer,
stripped naked and had his genitals burned with hot water.
Eight women are being held, including Jestina Mukoko, the director of
the Zimbabwe Peace Project, who was abducted and tortured, and has been
held in prison since last year, accused of training insurgents in
Botswana to overthrow Mugabe.