THE CASE OF HENRY DOWA Another victim told REDRESS that on two different occasions in 2001 Dowa participated in his torture at Harare Central. The first time he was shackled to the leg of a table and made to lie face down on the floor while Dowa and another took turns to beat him repeatedly on the soles of his bare feet with a rubber baton. On the second occasion several months later Dowa attacked him with a long wooden plank, striking him several times on the buttocks; the victim, who was handcuffed, was then repeatedly whipped by Dowa and others all over the head, back and buttocks with pieces of thick electrical cable.17 In addition, media reports from inside Zimbabwe alleged that he had been involved in other acts of torture. For example, Tichaona Munyanyi, the MDC Member of Parliament for Mbare East, accused Dowa of leading the torture on him in police custody in 2002.18 Dowa was also said to have lead a team of police officers who harassed mourners and disrupted proceedings at the funeral wake of another MDC MP who had died in police custody while on remand for murder.19 According to the MDC, most of the people allegedly tortured by Dowa were its supporters.20 Prospects for justice in Zimbabwe On learning of Dowa’s presence in Kosovo, the immediate concern was that if he returned to Zimbabwe there would be no realistic prospect of him being brought to justice, as the rule of law no longer exists there. UN officials themselves have pointed this out. For example, the UN Special Rapporteur on the Independence of Judges and Lawyers, Mr Dato’ Param Cumaraswamy, has on more than one occasion expressed his grave concern over the arrest and detention of judges in Zimbabwe and the deterioration of the rule of law.21 The total impunity of human rights perpetrators has also been thoroughly documented and roundly and regularly condemned in reports by national22 and international human rights organisations.23 17 18 19 An affidavit of this victim’s evidence was also sent to UNMIK Daily News, Harare, 18 July 2003. Ibid. Ibid. REDRESS has details of several other MDC supporters allegedly tortured by Dowa before he went to Kosovo. The victims whose affidavits were sent to UNMIK were MDC activists. 21 In a UN Press Release dated 19 February 2003 he described a recent incident as “but one in a series of institutional and personal attacks on the judiciary and its independent judges over the past two years, which have resulted in the resignations of several judges and which have left Zimbabwe’s rule of law in tatters.” In a Press Release of 2 September 2002 he referred to “the Government of Zimbabwe’s disregard for the independence of the judiciary and contempt for the rule of law.” See also his Report submitted in accordance with Commission on Human Rights resolution 2001/39, E/CN.4/2002/72 of 11 February 2002; also his Report submitted in accordance with Commission on Human Rights resolution 2002/43, Addendum, Situations in specific countries or territories, E/CN.4/2003/65/Add.1 of 25 February 2003. 22 For example, Torture by State Agents in Zimbabwe (supra). This is just one of many reports published by the Zimbabwe Human Rights NGO Forum since it was formed in 1998. For others see Zimbabwe Country Study (supra), especially pages 6-7, footnotes 30, 31 and 32. 23 See for example REDRESS’ Zimbabwe Country Study (supra), as well as numerous Amnesty International reports including Zimbabwe Under Siege, AFR 46/012/2003 of 2 May 2003, and Zimbabwe: Toll of Impunity, AFR 46/034/2002 of 25 June 2002. These and other reports show how police officers themselves directly participate in torture in the knowledge that they will not be held accountable; other perpetrators also enjoy impunity in that the police are under political instruction not to investigate and arrest those who commit human rights violations. 20 5