Thursday, May 7, 2009

Back to Jail for Zimbabwe Activists

A Zimbabwe court has revoked the bail of 18 political activists facing charges of "terrorism", ordering them to return to prison in a trial that has been widely denounced as a sham.
The Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), the party headed by Morgan Tsvangirai, the prime minister, warned the move could endanger the country's fledgling unity government.

The activists were arrested last year and say they were abducted from their homes by state security agents and tortured into confessing to being party to a plan to remove Robert Mugabe, the president, from power.

The group, which includes Jestina Mukoko, a leading human rights activist, and several MDC members, were granted bail in March with the consent of state prosecutors.The 18 have now been indicted for a trial which starts next month.

Fifteen of the activists appeared in court on Tuesday for the remand hearing, the other three are still in hospital recovering from injuries they said they received at the hands of security forces.

Read More At Al Jazeera

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