Global human rights group Amnesty International has demanded
that Ms Mtetwa be immediately and unconditionally released, after she was
denied bail. “Beatrice Mtetwa is the unfortunate victim of arbitrary arrest and
unlawful detention and must be released immediately,” said Noel Kutuwa, Amnesty
International’s southern Africa director. “It’s staggering that while Zimbabwe
is in the process of adopting a new constitution which provides a stronger bill
of human rights, lawyers in the course of their lawful duty are being so
blatantly harassed and intimidated,” he added. Ms Mtetwa responded to a call
from a client, Thabani Mpofu, who is a staff member in Prime Minister Tsvangirai’s
office, whose home was being searched by the police. When she arrived, she
asked to be shown an arrest warrant and when the police failed to produce one,
she told the police that they were acting unlawfully and undemocratically. She
was subsequently arrested. This week she applied for bail, where Ms Mtetwa’s
lawyers reported that she was ill-treated while in police custody, denied
access to her family and denied a bath. She was refused bail and has been
remanded in custody until 3rd April.
Original article: http://allafrica.com/stories/201303210798.html
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