Magistrate Catherine Chimanda granted the activists, including human
rights campaigner Jestina Mukoko, bail of $600 on condition they
surrender their passports and report to police once a week.
Their indictment and imprisonment brought new tension in the
power-sharing government of President Robert Mugabe and Prime Minister
Morgan Tsvangirai.
The activists were ordered back to jail on Tuesday, drawing condemnation from Western countries and human rights groups.
The activists, who also include several members of Tsvangirai’s
Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), say they were abducted by state
security agents from their homes last year and tortured to force them
to confess to planning to remove Mugabe from power.
The activists were granted bail in March with the consent of state prosecutors.
MDC secretary general Tendai Biti said the detention of the activists
was unacceptable and added to several breaches by Mugabe’s ZANU(PF) to a
September 15 political agreement that anchors the unity government.
Biti said the MDC would meet on May 17 to decide on the next step if
outstanding issues such as the review of the posts of central bank
governor and the Attorney General were not resolved at a meeting
between Mugabe and Tsvangirai next Monday.
But he said the MDC would not walk away from the unity government out of frustration.
"Nobody is going to elbow us out of this government. We got into this
after months of painstaking negotiations." Biti told reporters.
Human Rights Watch said in a statement Zimbabwean authorities should drop the criminal charges against the activists.
"This continued persecution makes it pretty clear that (Mugabe’s)
ZANU(PF) (party) is trying to undermine the new power-sharing
administration and is an example of Zimbabwe’s overall lack of progress
in respecting the rule of law and basic rights," said Georgette Gagnon,
HRW Africa director.
Long-time rivals Mugabe and Tsvangirai formed a unity government in
February after months of wrangling but differences remain over issues
such as Mugabe’s refusal to swear in Roy Bennett, a senior white MDC
member, as deputy agriculture minister.
Bennett was jailed for a month in February on charges of plotting terrorism.
Western donors have demanded the unity government carry out wider
political and media reforms and called for the release of all political
prisoners before committing funding.
The United States said it was troubling that the activists were jailed
again while Britain said on Tuesday the imprisonment of the activists
were disappointing.
"The new government in Zimbabwe has made some notable progress since
its inception in February. This makes news of the return to custody of
18 high profile political detainees all the more disappointing,"
British Foreign Secretary David Miliband said in a statement.
Reuters
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