3. Dangers in trying to access information and offer help The government is increasingly paranoid and angry about information on the violence that gets out into the public domain. During the pre and post election phase, several foreign journalists were arrested either trying to enter the country, or in the country. Raids have been carried out on the offices of AP, AFP and Reuters, even though these are all accredited news agencies in Zimbabwe. A New York Times and a London Telegraph journalist were arrested, as was a journalist from Time magazine. The latter was incarcerated for eight days and beaten and interrogated. Local journalists are similarly under threat. An accredited Zimbabwean journalist was arrested during the stay away on the 15 April and was remanded in jail until May, in spite of being in poor health. Once the state realised he was accredited and that they could not charge him for “practising journalism without permission”, 51 they then ludicrously charged him with having set fire to the bus he was photographing! The hunt for Sky TV and BBC in Bulawayo led to a Zimbabwean who is not even a journalist being jailed for five days. During the first few weeks of April, it was possible to conduct human rights interviews with patients in the hospitals. However, once video footage of the injured began to enter the public domain and to be shown on news broadcasts around the world, the CIO invaded the private hospitals in greater force. State agents are now controlling access to the hospitals to try and ensure shocking images of the injured do not continue to be aired worldwide. These agents insist on examining the accounts books in the hospitals to see who is paying the bills for victims of violence, and are a generally intimidatory presence. Information and images of victims are therefore being obtained at immense personal risk. 4. Attacks on election officials It has been alleged that in the post election period, election officials of various kinds have been deliberately targeted by the state. This assertion is supported by our database, which includes 37 polling agents or election observers, who have been beaten, threatened and/or displaced. This makes up 6% of the victim group, which considering the small proportion of observers in any given population, constitutes deliberate targeting, and would indicate a deliberate attempt to undermine people’s willingness to perform any election role in a presidential run off. As with all violence, violence against observers is currently escalating. The Zimbabwe Electoral Support Network (ZESN), the largest NGO involved with deployment of election observers, has been severely harassed, with police raids on their office, their leadership being taken in for questioning on several occasions, and recently the confiscation of one of their vehicles. This targeting of senior staff is clearly linked to the announcement ZESN made soon after the election – and weeks before the official announcement of results – in which they projected a win for Tsvangirai. Of further concern is that those who observed for ZESN, who were most often drawn from the rural villages adjacent to the polling stations, have been ruthlessly targeted in certain Mashonaland Districts. Eight ZESN observers in Mount Darwin have had their homesteads burnt down. ZESN released an urgent statement on 6 May to this effect and an update on 14 May, saying attacks on their observers were currently underway and appealing for their halt: ZESN observers in Mt Darwin East, Mutyandaedza Village, are under siege from suspected ZANU PF supporters for allegedly facilitating an MDC victory in the March 2008 harmonised election. The observers have been in hiding in the hills and the bush since the attacks began on Sunday the 11th of May 2008 and have had to walk long distances to find transport to seek refuge in Harare and other places…. The attacks are reported to have begun on Sunday afternoon after 51 In terms of the revised AIPPA it is no longer illegal for any Zimbabwe to undertake journalistic activities with or without accreditation, but this does not prevent continued arrests for such activities. 23