News stories for Tuesday 03 November

Abducted MDC Transport Manager charged with arms theft
The MDC employee, Pascal Gwezere, who was abducted by armed men from his home in Harare last Tuesday, has made an appearance. On Saturday he was in court, charged with the theft of arms. Some media reports had claimed the badly beaten Gwezere had been dumped back at his house on Wednesday, but lawyer Alex Muchadehama said Gwezere was ‘clandestinely’ brought to the Harare Magistrates’ Court on Saturday.

Rights lawyer arrested in connection with Bennett’s case
Human rights and media lawyer, Mordecai Mahlangu, was arrested Monday for allegedly obstructing the course of justice, in a case involving MDC official Roy Bennett. Media watchdog, MISA-Zimbabwe, says the lawyer was detained after he wrote a letter to Attorney General Johannes Tomana, protesting a subpoena that was issued to Peter Hitschmann, directing him to testify against Bennett.

Mines Minister Mpofu threatens NGOs over blood diamond reports
Mines Minister Obert Mpofu has shocked international government delegations and rights groups by threatening NGOs and an international diamond review mission, who have reported on widespread human rights abuses at the Chiadzwa diamond fields. Mpofu was speaking in Namibia where the Kimberley Process (the international body tasked with ending the global trade in conflict diamonds) is holding its annual meeting.

Civil Society excluded from SADC ministerial consultations
A grouping of 37 Civil Society Organizations has expressed disappointment, after being excluded from meetings with the SADC Troika ministerial team which visited Zimbabwe last week. The Civil Society Monitoring Mechanism is a grouping of civic organizations committed to the independent monitoring and evaluation of the Global Political Agreement.

Coup leader Simon Mann pardoned in Equatorial Guinea
Simon Mann, the Briton who led a failed coup attempt in Equatorial Guinea and who also spent time in prison in Zimbabwe, has been pardoned and was set to be released from prison on Tuesday.

 

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This entry was posted on Tuesday, November 3rd, 2009 at 7:41 pm and is filed under News, Newsreel. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.