Zimbabwe activists face treason charges for discussing Middle East upheaval

Forty-five Zimbabwean activists who attended a meeting to discuss the successful uprisings in Egypt and Tunisia were charged Wednesday with treason, which could result in the death penalty, and subverting an elected government.

Attorneys for the defendants were informed of the treason charges only 10 minutes before Wednesday’s court hearing, and had no chance to discuss the charges with their clients, lawyer Marufu Mandevere said.

After the hearing, the defendants were led out in leg irons and handcuffs, and prison authorities again denied lawyers access to their clients, Mandevere said.

The arrests marked the latest crackdown by the forces of autocratic President Robert Mugabe, who has remained in power since disputed elections in 2008 that saw widespread violence by thugs associated with his ruling ZANU-PF party.

Among those arrested Saturday afternoon was Munyaradzi Gwisai, director of the Labor Law Center. Several detainees have been beaten in police custody, according to advocates for the group. Some of the defendants, who are HIV positive, have been denied lifesaving antiretroviral drugs, advocates said.

The weekend meeting in a second-floor room of the Labor Law Center in Harare, the Zimbabwean capital, began with videos from the Egypt and Tunisian uprisings taken from the Internet, according to the only organizer able to escape. He declined to be named for fear of arrest.

“We were linking the struggles in Egypt and Tunisia to the current situation in Zimbabwe,” the organizer said. “People were throwing out their perspectives and their views on how they can free themselves from this regime.

“In Zimbabwe, there are a lot of people who are struggling. A lot of people are being harassed.”

One person in the room was taking notes and sending text messages. The escapee said participants later surmised that he was an intelligence officer and that he had summoned the police.

As the debate went on, they got word that the building had been surrounded by police officers. The building’s security guard refused to let the police in and fled with the key.

The officers “followed the guard and beat him,” the participant said. “When they got into the office, people were singing and praying.”

One woman suffered a broken leg when she jumped from the second floor.

U.S. State Department spokesman Philip J. Crowley, using Twitter, said Mugabe had failed to learn the lessons of the Egypt and Tunisian uprisings.

“Activists meet in Zimbabwe to discuss the implications of Egypt and Tunisia and end up arrested. Mugabe did not learn the right lessons,” he said in a tweet under the name PJCrowley.

Mandevere, the attorney, said the meeting was an academic discussion comparing the situations in Egypt and Tunisia with that in Zimbabwe.

“This is the first time we have seen people being charged with treason for having a meeting that was an academic discussion,” he said.

“The response was so heavy-handed because the state is panicking because of what is happening in Egypt and Tunisia and what is now happening in Libya. I think it’s to set an example to prevent anyone from emulating the peaceful demonstrations in Egypt.”

Zimbabwe is to hold elections this year, but the prime minister in the unity government, former opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai, has threatened to boycott the vote because of doubt that it will be free and fair.

robyn.dixon@latimes.com