Zimbabwe's Human Rights Violations

Posted by Sean Sinclair-Day Aug 12, 2007

According to a report by Human Rights Forum , an independent organization based in Harare, 5,307 human rights violations in Zimbabwe during the first of 2007. This figure is almost double the number during the first half of 2006. The report was published on ZimOnline, an independent Zimbabwean news service working from South Africa.

The group, which consists of 16 NGOs, detailed the abuses which included 328 cases of torture, 481 assaults by the state, 802 instances of unlawful arrest and detention, 935 incidents of political victimization and intimidation, and 1,935 infringements on freedom of expression and movement. There were also two politically linked deaths in the report.

The highest profile case this year occurred in March when Morgan Tsvangirai, leader of the opposition, was hospitalized after being assaulted and arrested while on his way to attend a prayer meeting.

President Robert Mugabe has watched Zimbabwe's inflation soar as people and business have struggled to survive. Earlier this year, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) estimated that Zimbabwe's inflation would reach 4,000 percent. The official inflation is 4,500 percent and now the IMF predicts that it could rise to 100,000 percent by the end of the year.