Shock for lawyers in Zimbabwe

Lawyers like Beatrice Mtetwa show immense courage

Zimbabwe's government has been urged to end the harassment of lawyers, control the police and restore the rule of law.

An team from the International Commission of Jurists said it was shocked at the cavalier response of officials to police attacks on lawyers.

The Geneva-based group says it is also concerned about the role the police have been allowed to play in Zimbabwe.

The team visited Zimbabwe for five days to investigate the recent intimidation of lawyers representing the opposition.

"I was frankly personally shocked that lawyers could be beaten in police stations, said Kenyan ICJ delegate George Kegoro.

"The amount of repression and personal consequences for lawyers and for persons who are unpopular to the government is something I found very shocking."

Shaming

The International Commission of Jurists warns that if the current level of tension between the Zimbabwean government and the legal profession is not resolved soon, it will only deepen the damage to the rule of law.

"I've seen all kinds of things during my 30 year career on the bench, but the beating of lawyers, and the police not obeying court orders, I had never seen that to that extent. It really was shocking," said Canadian delegate Claire L'Heureux-Dube.

"The lawyers have an incredible strength. They have been threatened. They need a lot of security, and they work in conditions that are really threatening. It takes a lot of courage. These lawyers who put their life at stake, have got it."

"We can only hope our findings have an impact on the Zimbabwean authorities. I don't think any country likes to be shamed internationally," she added.

The BBC's Southern Africa correspondent, Peter Biles, says the Zimbabwean government allowed the ICJ fact-finding mission to go ahead, although a number of requests by the jurists for interviews were not answered.

The ICJ team was unable to meet the chief justice of the Supreme Court, the judge president of the High Court, the minister of justice or the minister of home affairs.

However, during the five days in Harare, the ICJ did meet the permanent secretary of the Ministry of Justice and Zimbabwe's attorney general.