Zimbabwe opposition 'assaulted in custody'

Nine opposition activists who were to be arraigned today on charges of attempted murder and illegal weapons possession all required medical attention for injuries sustained since their arrests, doctors said.

One of the activists collapsed in the courthouse, and the judge agreed to lawyers’ appeals to adjourn the hearing and allow them to get medical treatment, opposition officials told reporters at the Harare magistrates’ court.

Doctors and staff at private medical facilities where the detainees were taken under police guard said the nine – who were detained on Tuesday and Wednesday - appeared to have been assaulted while in custody.

The medical staff asked not to be identified, saying they feared reprisals.

Lawyers for the opposition Movement for Democratic Change were seeking a further court ruling ordering the activists’ immediate release.

The nine opposition activists brought to court were to have been charged with attempted murder in alleged petrol bombings and possessing illegal weapons and explosives, but the hearing was adjourned before they could be arraigned.

Lawyers believe they could face additional charges relating to terrorism that carry much harsher sentences of life imprisonment or the death penalty under the nation’s sweeping security laws.

Zimbabwe’s ruling party, meanwhile, endorsed President Robert Mugabe on Friday as its candidate in next year’s presidential elections, shrugging off international criticism of the clampdown on opposition activists and papering over internal divisions about the country’s economic meltdown.

The endorsement by the central committee of the ruling ZANU-PF party of the 83-year-old Mugabe – the only leader since independence from Britain in 1980 - came after an emergency southern African summit Thursday that gave its public backing to Mugabe.

The 145-member decision-making body also agreed to bring forward parliamentary elections, scheduled for 2010, by two years to coincide with the presidential poll.

Next year’s poll would allow Mugabe to say in power until 2013, when he is nearly 90.

The main opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai earlier this week said his party will boycott next year’s poll unless democratic reforms made it free and fair, declaring the opposition would never “go into an election that is predetermined.”

Mugabe has vowed to go ahead with the elections even if the opposition does not contest.

Tsvangirai and several other top colleagues are recuperating from injuries inflicted in beatings when police crushed a prayer meeting in Harare on March 11 that the government said was a banned demonstration.

Mugabe acknowledged that police used violent methods against Tsvangirai and other opposition supporters and killed at least one activist. Referring to injuries suffered by at least 40 others in custody, Mugabe warned perpetrators of unrest they would be “bashed” again if violence continued.

Speaking in the local Shona language, Mugabe said Friday that Tsvangirai “asked for it.”

“Tsvangirai stop it now,” he said, in reference to government accusations that the opposition is to blame for a wave of unrest and petrol bomb attacks, allegations the opposition has repeatedly denied.

A communique from the Southern African Development Community summit Thursday voiced its full support for Mugabe.

South African President Thabo Mbeki was named Thursday by the southern African leaders as mediator in the Zimbabwe crisis.

Tanzanian President Jakaya Kikwete, chairman of the regional bloc, said the summit decided “to promote dialogue of the parties in Zimbabwe. There is no replacement to that.”

Previous attempts by South Africa since 2002 to bring Mugabe and the opposition to the negotiating table have been short-lived and are unlikely to be revived after Mugabe’s endorsement Friday and fresh assaults on activists, opposition officials said.

The country’s trade union movement, meanwhile, has called for a mass stay-away from work on Tuesday and Wednesday to protest the economic meltdown.

Zimbabwe’s official inflation, fuelled by high level corruption and black market dealing, is 1,700%, the highest in the world. There is mass unemployment, shortages of most basic products and an increasing reliance on food aid in what used to be the region’s breadbasket.