Maguwu, who has gained high recognition for his part in exposing the extent of human rights abuse at the Chiadzwa diamond fields, was due to leave Zimbabwe for Dublin on Saturday. He is meant to be addressing a human rights conference which starts in the Irish city on Wednesday.
But state security agents at the airport in Harare on Saturday seized his boarding pass, as well as his passport, laptop and personal notebooks. It’s understood his luggage was also removed from the plane and “tampered with.”
Lawyers on Sunday sought the intervention of High Court Justice Samuel Kudya, filing an urgent application for the return of Maguwu’s property. The application also asked the court to bar the state security from further harassing Maguwu, who has faced past persecution, harassment and jail time because of his work.
Listed as respondents in the court application were the co-Ministers of Home Affairs, the Chief Immigration Officer, the Minister of Transport, the Civil Aviation Authority of Zimbabwe and the Minister of State Security in the President’s Office.
Maguwu’s lawyer Denford Halimani explained that Judge Kudya postponed the hearing to Monday. He told SW Radio Africa that the case was again postponed on Monday morning, with the state’s representative asking for “more time.”
“When we returned to court in the afternoon, the state’s representative again asked for a delay and it was clear to us that the request was not bona fide, and was just a delaying tactic,” Halimani said.
He added: “So we argued that another delay was against the purpose of the urgent application, and the judge agreed.”
Kudya granted a provisional order for Maguwu’s property to be returned, as well as the harassment to end. Halimani explained that, because the hearing was heard late on Monday, the orders had not yet been served.
“It is a bit unfortunate that it happened so late in the day. But it is likely the order will be served tomorrow (Tuesday) and we expect Mr Maguwu to continue with his journey as soon as his possessions and IDs are returned,” Halimani said. – SW Radio Africa News
Post published in: News