The ZIMBABWE Situation | Our
thoughts and prayers are with Zimbabwe - may peace, truth and justice prevail. |
Hundreds of people say they were assaulted after the
strike |
Zimbabwe has seen hundreds of arrests since last week's strike, with allegations made of brutal treatment. Patricia, an official with the Movement for Democratic Change in Harare, told the BBC of her ordeal.
I was fast asleep at 1pm when I heard them knocking at my door. I thought they were thieves. The soldiers pushed the door open.
They were many, some were in civvies.
They had guns, ropes, baton sticks. They asked who Patricia was.
I said: "I am Patricia".
They took the urine from my kid and said: 'Drink it' Patricia, MDC |
They asked if I was the secretary of the MDC.
I said "Yes".
They said: "Bring your particulars of the MDC."
I said: "I don't have any."
'We want to kill her'
They said: "You are a prostitute of [MDC leader Morgan] Tsvangirai, so we are going to take this condom and put it on this gun and get it into you, because Tsvangirai is doing this to you and you enjoy having sex with him".
I told them I had never had sex with Tsvangirai and they said: "That is your boyfriend and you should suffer for this."
They put the gun inside me and they asked me if I was enjoying it.
The strike was marred by violent
incidents |
I said: "It is painful."
They said: "It is not painful because when you have it with Tsvangirai you'll be smiling."
They forced me to make noises as though I was having sex with a man.
I did.
When my brother heard that I was being assaulted, he came out from his house to my room and said: "What is happening?"
He was told to shut up and was beaten and made to get into the toilet.
They opened the taps and water was running all over his body and asked: "Why are you living with this MDC person here? We want to kill her."
They started beating me up.
They took the urine from my kid and said: "Drink it."
I first refused but the way they were beating me and they wanted to put the gun again, so I had to drink it.
After drinking it, they said they wanted to see the urine flowing.
I said: "I don't have any urine."
They said: "We know you have it. You have to do it now before we kill you."
So I had to do the urine standing.
They said: "We want to see it flowing by your feet."
So I did.
I am afraid of meeting them again. I don't know what they will do.
They have already killed me.
I have to carry on. I just want revenge.
The strike was marred by violent
incidents |
Opposition groups in Zimbabwe say that government security forces have arrested and beaten hundreds of people following last week's widely observed general strike.
Amnesty International says that up to 500 people have been detained in "a new and dangerous phase of repression".
Following the strike, President Robert Mugabe warned the opposition Movement for Democratic Change not to instigate violence, saying: "Those who play with fire will not only be burnt but consumed."
The BBC's Barnaby Philips in Johannesburg says that all the evidence points to a new crackdown of unprecedented brutality.
'Children assaulted'
A doctor working in a hospital in the capital, Harare, said more than 250 people have been treated there after being beaten by the security forces; many had broken fingers or toes, some had broken legs.
Two women described how men in military uniforms stripped them, beat them, and used guns to sexually abuse them.
They took the urine from my kid and said: 'Drink it' Patricia, MDC activist |
The MDC says that children of opposition activists have been assaulted.
Lawyer and director of the publishers of the Daily News Gugulethu Moyo says she was beaten by five men in Harare central police station after going there to enquire about a Daily News photographer who had been arrested.
"The cells were so full I had to stand, which was okay because my backside was so bruised I could not lie down," she said.
'Crying foul'
"We are fast losing count of people being detained and tortured because it's now happening every hour," MDC spokesman Paul Themba Nyathi told Reuters news agency.
Zimbabwean police spokesmen Bothwell Mugariri said about 400 opposition members have been arrested since last week's strike.
This woman, 60, says she was beaten by
soldiers |
He said many had been charged with malicious injury to property.
The police have denied the torture allegations.
"The police would want to interview and charge everyone who was involved in any kind of violence and we are not going to get distracted by people who organise violence and then cry foul when the law is applied to them," a spokesman said.
During the strike, stones were thrown at passing cars and a bus was set on fire.
The police also say that the offices of the ruling Zanu-PF party were set on fire in Chinhoyi, north of Harare, while explosives were found in the central town of Kadoma.
By-elections
Zimbabwean human rights activist Tony Reeler says the attacks are focused on the MDC's local leadership.
Following the strike, the MDC gave Mr Mugabe until 31 March to agree to 15 demands including ending torture and depoliticising the police force or face further "popular mass action".
Tension is rising in Harare ahead of two by-elections this weekend in seats the MDC won easily in June 2000 elections.
Zimbabwe, once a regional breadbasket, now has massive unemployment, long fuel and bread queues and inflation of more than 200%.
Up to half the population, some seven million people, need food aid according to donors.