Amnesty International seeks probe into Dzamara’s abduction

By Tatenda Dewa | Harare Bureau |

Human rights watchdog, Amnesty International, has for the second time within a week appealed to President Robert Mugabe to set up a commission to probe the abduction of Itai Dzamara, a journalist turned political activist.

Dzamara was forcefully taken away from his home suburb, Glen Norah in Harare, in March last year by suspected State security agents and his whereabouts remain unknown amid fears that he could have been killed.

He had led a series of peaceful protests calling on Mugabe to surrender power, using the Occupy Africa Unity Square (OAUS) campaign.

In a statement to mark the 2016 International Day of the Disappeared, Amnesty International urged government to do more to establish what happened to Dzamara.

“[The] failure of the police to account for the enforced disappearance of Itai Dzamara, almost 18 months after he was last seen, speaks volumes about the high levels of impunity that persist in Zimbabwe.

“The authorities must take action to ensure truth and justice are delivered and free the Dzamara family from the agonizing uncertainty they have been subjected to since Itai’s disappearance,” said Amnesty’s deputy director for southern Africa, Tjiurimo Hengari.

The courts have ordered all the security departments to investigate Dzamara’s enforced disappearance, but nothing has come up.

Amnesty last week wrote to Mugabe but has not received a response.

“Amnesty International’s secretary-general, Salil Shetty, and Human Rights Watch’s executive director, Kenneth Roth, wrote a letter to President Robert Mugabe’s government, urging it to establish an independent judge-led commission of inquiry into the abduction and likely enforced disappearance of Itai Dzamara and ensure that those suspected to be responsible for his disappearance are brought to justice in fair trials,” added Hengari. Nehanda Radio