Africa Press-Nigeria:
UNITED NATIONS officials have warned against the forced disappearance and torture of opposition activists in Zimbabwe following the rearrest of three women who claimed to have been abused after being abducted by state services.
Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) MP Joana Mamombe and youth leaders Cecilia Chimbiri and Netsai Marov were detained again on Wednesday by police who accused them of lying over claims they were kidnapped by state agents after they were taken into custody last month.
The women insist that they were abducted by state agents from the police station where they were being held after being accused of organising an anti-government protest.
The opposition activists were missing for 48 hours before being released by their captors but were arrested while receiving hospital treatment on charges of breaking lockdown regulations for taking part in the protest.
Lawyer for the women Kumbirai Mafunda confirmed that they had been detained at Harare Central Police station on Wednesday and forced to surrender their passports as part of their bail conditions.
Speaking to reporters earlier this week Zimbabwe’s Home Affairs Minister Kazembe Kazembe said the allegations were a fabrication and part of a plot to destabilise the government of President Emmerson Mnangagwa.
He insisted that the MDC along with “Christian preachers and foreign diplomatic missions” in Zimbabwe were stirring up anti-government tensions although said the country was “stable and peaceful internally.”
But UN officials warned the government to immediately end the practice of forced disappearances and torture “that appear aimed at suppressing protests and dissent.”
They called for Zimbabwe to “ensure the effective protection of women from sexual violence, and to bring those responsible to account.”
