Dozens of activists arrested and accused of plotting an “Egypt-style” uprising against President Robert Mugabe have been charged with treason, which carries a death penalty. There are also reports that they have been beaten and denied medical treatment.
Observers fear that the state trumped up the charges as a warning to opponents who might be planning protests. Lawyer Alec Muchadehama said on Wednesday that the activists had been charged with “treason or alternatively attempting to overthrow the government by unconstitutional means” and that they had been beaten in custody.
Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights also reported that police had denied the activists medical help.
They were due to return to police cells for another court appearance on Thursday.
Arriving at the magistrate’s court on Wednesday, the group was brought to court in an open police lorry and ordered to join hands and form a chain as they entered the courtroom.
The group of 46, comprising students, unionists and members of a socialist organisation, were arrested in Harare at a public lecture, the topic of which was “Egypt and Tunisia: What lessons can be learned by the working class in Zimbabwe and Africa?”
Police say the topic was a call to rebellion. As evidence, they seized DVDs, video equipment and a laptop, which they said had been used by the organisers to show videos of protests in North Africa. According to police, the videos had been shown as “motivation for people to subvert a constitutionally elected government”. Police said the meeting had called for solidarity with Egyptian and Tunisian workers and was intended to incite protests against Mugabe.
But the group’s lawyers say those arrested had only been holding “an academic discussion”. The most prominent of them is Munyaradzi Gwisai, a long-time anti-Mugabe activist and university law lecturer. He was one of the founding members of the Movement for Democratic Change but was expelled after he backed Mugabe’s land reforms and accused the MDC leadership of selling out to wealthy whites.
The North African revolutions have drawn keen attention in Zimbabwe, even though many believe there is little chance of a popular uprising. Defence Minister Emmerson Mnangagwa has said anyone planning a protest “will regret it”, and “war veterans”, who enforce Mugabe’s will, have vowed to attack demonstrators.