Zimbabwe: Jailed activists need our help

Six activists arrested in Harare, along with 39 others, were finally granted bail on March 16 after a month in jail. The activists were arrested for attending a video screening of footage from the people’s uprisings in Egypt and Tunisia.

However, the six need to raise US$12,000 to pay their bail — far more than they can afford. An appeal is being launched internationally to raise the funds needed to pay the activists’ bail (see below for details).

The bail conditions require the six to surrender passports and travelling documents. They must report three times a week to the police.

The other 39 activists arrested have been released due to lack of evidence and because their detention resulted from what the court called “dragnet” arrests.

The six still in jail — Munyaradzi Gwisai, Tafadzwa Antonater Choto, Hopewell Gumbo, Tatenda Mombeyarara, Edson Chakuma, and Welcome Zimuto — have been charged with treason, which carries a possible penalty of death or life imprisonment.

The granting of bail is a victory for the six activists, who are being tortured by police and security officers in an attempt to extract false confessions of a plot to overthrow the regime of Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe.

However, they desperately need to raise the required $12,000 required.

Donations to the bail fund should be made to: Commonwealth Bank, account name: Australians for Democracy in Zimbabwe; account number: 10105860; BSB: 062-498

[For more information, visit www.freethemnow.com .]