In another case, a 29-year-old man is fighting for his life after he was shot in his pelvis in Chitungwiza on 14 January. According to medical personnel who attended to him, “he had a high-velocity gunshot injury and suffered massive internal organ damage. His life is almost destroyed, and he will need a colostomy”.44 The man will need a bladder and rectal reconstruction. Amnesty International has seen the man’s record including gruesome pictures of the gunshot wound. In another case on 14 January, a 21-year-old male in Epworth was shot in his right arm and the bullet exited into his abdomen, hitting his kidney and traversed to his spinal cord. According to medical personnel interviewed, he will never walk again.45 Police also fired teargas not just on crowds of demonstrators but also into people’s homes in townships such as Chitungwiza, Mabvuku, Pumula, Epworth and Mbare resulting in severe injuries on 14 and 15 January. Witnesses and victims recounted scenes of scores of people injured after being shot at with tear gas cannons while in their homes, including a one-year old baby boy fighting for his life in Bulawayo after tear gas was thrown into his parents’ home on 14 January. Some children were also victimized by security forces’ excessive use of force. For instance, on 15 January, in Mabvuku, a five-year-old boy had his five fingers broken after a soldier in boots stamped on his hand while trying to arrest men in the house the boy was sleeping in. Amnesty International saw medical records, as well as pictures showing two fingers with gaping wounds.46 The Zimbabwe Association of Doctors for Human Rights (ZADHR) reported attending to 343 cases of injured people, of which 78 people suffered gunshot wounds while four had dog bites after dogs were set on them by security forces.47 Amnesty International believes that this may not be the total number of people injured as many people were too frightened to seek medical treatment and most public hospitals were closed. TORTURE, CRUEL, INHUMAN OR DEGRADING TREATMENT Amnesty International has documented over a dozen cases that demonstrate patterns of cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment of protestors, activists, real or perceived opposition members and relatives of people who are being pursued, including women and children, by security forces. Most of these cases happened during the clampdown on demonstrations, during and after arrests as well as during search operations by security forces. In some of the cases, security forces were beating up people with the intention of extracting information about the whereabouts of individuals they were pursuing to arrest or as a form of punishment and as such amount to torture. Such acts are absolutely prohibited under international law, including under ACHPR, ICCPR and CAT. National human rights groups have also reported credible evidence of torture and other forms of illtreatment.48 Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights (ZHLR) confirmed that tens of people they represented had reported that they had been tortured49. A representative of the organization told Amnesty International: “We received 39 calls from people who reported having been tortured by police and military. They were mostly from the high-density suburbs and we referred them to hospitals”.50 Amnesty International’s analysis of information gathered from medical sources indicates that the nature of injuries treated in medical centres in Belvedere, Mandressa and Parktown in Harare between 14 and 16 January included not only those resulting from gunshots, but also from beatings with boots, blunt instruments such as wooden logs, abrasions from being dragged on tarmac, and from sharp and penetrating objects. According to medical reports, many will need surgery and intensive care and the costs for some surgeries could be upward of USD 5,000. A colostomy is a surgical procedure that brings one end of the large intestine out through the abdominal wall to divert the colon through an incision in the abdominal wall to create a stoma. A stoma is the opening in the skin where a pouch for collecting faeces is attached 45 Interviewed on 25 January 2019. Identities withheld for security reasons 46 Interview on 25 January. Identity of the two witnesses has been withheld for security reasons 47 Interview with doctors from ZADHR 48 Monitoring Report in the Aftermath of the 14 January to 16 January “Stayaway” and Subsequent disturbances by the Zimbabwe Human Rights Commission - 22 January to document “Torture was perpetrated through beating the men with baton sticks on their backs while they lay on the ground, including falanga, i.e. beating under the feet and beating them with open hands” 49 Amnesty Interview with officials at ZHLR, 28 January 2019 50 Amnesty Interview with officials at ZHLR, 28 January 2019 44 ‘OPEN FOR BUSINESS, CLOSED FOR DISSENT’ CRACKDOWN IN ZIMBABWE DURING THE NATIONAL STAY-AWAY, 14-16 JANUARY 2019 Amnesty International 11