Mr. Maguwu was accused of having handed over a CRD report on human rights violations taking place in the diamond-mining area of Chiadzwa to the Kimberley Process Monitor during its visit to Zimbabwe in May 2010 – an accusation he denied. The report included cases of unlawful arrests and detentions, torture and extra-judicial executions allegedly perpetrated by the police, the army and security agents, in connection with diamond mining. The CRD has played a central role in recording human rights abuses carried out by state security agents against local people in the Marange diamond fields, and has frequently made this information available to Kimberley Process participating governments and working groups. However, Kimberley Process participating countries have so far failed to reach a consensus on suspending Zimbabwe from membership.   While in detention, Mr. Farai Maguwu was reportedly denied access to his medication, which led to complications and the need to operate him on June 18. On the same day, one of his guards, known as “Murigani”, put him into iron shackles as he was lying on his bed.   The Court dismissed his applications for release on numerous occasions until July 12, 2010, when the Harare High Court Judge Mawadze Gurainesu released Mr. Farai Maguwu on bail, despite the opposition of the State on the ground that the State was taking too long to investigate and that it would therefore not be lawful to keep him in remand for allegations that were yet to be proven.   Mr. Farai Maguwu was granted bail on the following conditions: payment of a 1,500 USD bail deposit, daily reporting to Mutare central police station, obligation to reside in his home in Mutare and prohibition to travel more than 40 km away from Mutare, except for the purpose of court hearings in Harare. Finally, on October 21, 2010, the Harare High Court withdrew charges after the State presented a document from the attorney’s general office, giving instructions to drop the case. Despite his acquittal, harassment against him continued. On September 10, 2011, as he was about to board a plane to Ireland for a work-related trip, members of the CIO carried out a body search and searched his belongings. They took away his money, computer laptop, digital camera and documents, which included his boarding pass and passport, which resulted in Mr. Maguwu eventually missing his plane. The following morning, ZLHR moved an urgent application for the return of all his items, but the CIO denied any knowledge of the items in question. However, they later handed back his documents, but the remaining items seized from him, including his money and electronic devices, were never returned to him. In spite of their efforts to prevent Mr. Maguwu from travelling to Ireland, he eventually succeeded to leave by road to Johannesburg a few days later. However, on his return, on October 10 2011, members of the CIO were again waiting for him at the airport. He was taken aside, searched thoroughly and interrogated about the conference he had attended before being finally allowed to go home. He then started receiving anonymous calls on his mobile phone, with the caller remaining silent. At time, CIO members also parked their vehicles at his office without any comment or explanation. On other occasions, they entered the CRD office and questioned the staff to intimidate them. In 2011, he was again intimidated. While he was in Namibia, Mr. Maguwu was surrounded by Zimbabwean security forces, who accused him of being a sell-out. Cases of Ms. Ellen Chademana and Mr. Ignatius Muhambi In 2010 and 2011, human rights defenders working on sexual orientation were systematically persecuted and are still subjected to an ongoing judicial and administrative harassment. For instance, on May 21, 2010, two LGBT activists of the organisation Gays and Lesbians of Zimbabwe (GALZ), Ms. Ellen Chademana and Mr. Ignatius Muhambi, were arbitrarily arrested by nine police officers. The police carried out a search of the GALZ offices and confis18 The Observatory ZIMBABWE: Ongoing risks for human rights defenders in the context of political deadlock and pre-electoral period cated work materials (laptops, records, etc.). On May 24, 2010, the activists were formally accused of “possessing pornographic material” and “undermining the office of the President” after a statement of the former Mayor of San Francisco denouncing Mr. Mugabe’s homophobia was found in GALZ office. They were released on bail on May 27 under the condition that they report twice a week at a police station in Harare, charges against Mr. Muhambi were eventually dropped in July 2011 and Ms. Chademana was acquitted on December 16, 2010. Case of Ms. Jestina Mukoko Ms. Jestina Mukoko is a prominent human rights defender who runs the Zimbabwe Peace Project (ZPP). ZPP is involved in human rights work and is based in Harare, with peace monitoring officers throughout the country. Ms. Mukoko told the mission delegates about the painful flashbacks regarding the events in December 2008. In the morning of December 3, 2008, police and security agents came to Ms. Mukoko’s house and bundled her still in her pyjamas in a car with no registration number. In the car, Ms. Mukoko was made to sit between two men, one of whom ordered her to put her head on her lap. Along the way, she was blind-folded with a blanket as the car stereo belted out loud music. She was not allowed to put on appropriate clothing or fetch her optical glasses. She was taken to a private house where she was given a dress and shoes and then interrogated for hours by five men and one woman on a range of issues, including an organisation called Harvest House. After ordering her to remove her shoes, the interrogators started beating her on the sole of the feet. She was ordered to reveal the identities of the persons they referred to as “big fishes”, whom they were looking for within the human rights movement. She was also asked about specific individuals named by the interrogators and was also accused of recruiting youths to be trained by the MDC in Botswana as saboteurs, in order to overthrow the present government. Ms. Mukoko was then ordered to lift her feet as she was being bastinadoed. As she had no undergarments, the women officers went to purchase underwear for her. The beating continued throughout the night and was interrupted when the police and security agents, interspersed with the police drinking alcohol. Ms. Mukoko’s feet became swollen and showed signs of internal bleeding. “The feet did not feel like they were mine any longer”, she told the mission delegates. She was asked about the identity of her contact persons at MDC and beaten up if she overlooked details requested by her torturers. The interrogators produced a list of persons from the civil society and ordered her to provide their addresses, although she denied knowing them. The interrogation continued unabated for about four days. On the fifth day, she was forced to kneel on gravel as a punishment for having allegedly lied to them – a position that was painful. After her interrogators asked her about her son and his safety, she asked for permission to call him to find out how he was doing. They laughed and stated that they were not that cruel. During the interrogations, they told her that they had received precise information about her from people who lived and interacted with her. The police frequently threatened her with death and told her that there were many graves where she could be buried. She was also subjected to simulated drowning, locked in a freezer and beaten as the security forces tried to make her confess a plot to overthrow Mr. Mugabe. They also argued that the legal requirement that a suspect be brought to Court within 28 hours did not apply to them. On December 22, 2008, 19 days after her kidnapping, she was finally taken, blindfolded, to a police station that she later identified as being Highlands police station. From there she was transferred shortly afterwards to Matapi, a place that was declared by the Supreme Court of Zimbabwe sitting as a constitutional court to be “unfit for human habitation”. She was kept incommunicado and allowed no access to lawyers or any other persons. She was forced to The Observatory ZIMBABWE: Ongoing risks for human rights defenders in the context of political deadlock and pre-electoral period 19