Zimbabwe defies Tsvangirai access order - lawyers
Source: Reuters
By MacDonald Dzirutwe HARARE, March 13 (Reuters) - Lawyers said on Tuesday Zimbabwe police had defied a high court order granting them access to opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai and others who were arrested and allegedly tortured while in police custody. Police detained Tsvangirai, the leader of the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), and dozens of other opposition figures on Sunday when they broke up a prayer meeting organised in the face of a ban on political rallies. One man was killed. Rights groups said the MDC leader and some of the others had been tortured in custody, an accusation prompting international condemnation of President Robert Mugabe and his government. Alec Muchadehama, a Tsvangirai lawyer, said the police refused to abide by the Zimbabwe High Court order issued late on Monday giving lawyers immediate access to the activists being held in police stations throughout the capital Harare. "They said 'we don't care about the court order, we have our own structures where we take orders from'," Muchadehama said. Eric Matinenga, another lawyer for Tsvangirai, said the police were in contempt of court and said lawyers would return to the court on the matter. Police were not immediately available for comment. Political tensions, which have been brewing over the soaring cost of living and Mugabe's increasingly controversial rule, erupted on Sunday when riot squads fought opposition youths in the capital for the second time in a month. A coalition of opposition, church and civic groups called Sunday's meeting to address Zimbabwe's political and economic crisis. Police ordered organisers to scrap it due to fears the opposition was launching a street campaign to oust Mugabe. In power since independence in 1980, the 83-year-old leader said he would seek another term if asked to by his ruling ZANU-PF party, whether elections were held as planned in 2008 or delayed for two years, state media reported on Monday. Critics say Mugabe has mismanaged Zimbabwe's economy and violated human rights, sending the once-prosperous nation into a deep crisis marked by inflation over 1,700 percent, unemployment in excess of 80 percent and chronic shortages of food and fuel. Mugabe blames the problems on sabotage from Britain and other Western nations.
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