HUMAN RIGHTS: Howard League and BBC reporter recognised

A Zimbabwean lawyer who acted for a Fleet Street journalist deported by the Mugabe regime won the Liberty /Justice Human Rights Lawyer of the Year award last week.

Beatrice Mtetwa, a Harare-based human rights lawyer, has constantly battled with the Zimbabwe government.

She has represented the mayor of Harare, who is a member of the opposition party, the Movement for Democratic Change, and farmers whom government officials have evicted from their farms.

Ms Mtetwa acts for Zimbabwe's last independent national newspaper, the Daily News, which was shut down by the authorities in October.

Last year, she acted for Guardian journalist Andrew Meldrum, who was arrested following publication of an article and faced criminal charges before being acquitted at trial.

Ms Mtetwa continues to act for the journalist following his deportation from the country.

Also short-listed for the main award were London-based solicitor Louise Christian, for her work acting for detainees at the US's Camp X-ray at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba, and Jerry Clore, the north London-based solicitor who acts for the homeless and vulnerable asylum seekers.

Meanwhile, the Howard League for Penal Reform picked up the Human Rights Award for its work protecting and promoting the human rights of young offenders.

BBC television journalist Mark Daly was given the Peter Duffy Award - which goes to an individual younger than 30 - for his investigative work that resulted in the recent broadcast of 'The Secret Policeman'.

It highlighted racism at a police training facility and resulted in a Commission for Racial Equality inquiry into all police services.

Jonathan Ames

Zimbabwean lawyers must keep seeking justice, Beatrice Mtetwa tells Rachel Rothwell

The work of lawyers in Zimbabwe is crucial to obtaining justice in the future, Beatrice Mtetwa said last week.

She said they must continue to use their legal skills to combat the Mugabe regime - even though the rule of law no longer prevails there.

She said: 'The work of lawyers is very important, despite the fact that half of the time you obtain a court order, and no one cares.

It's very important to keep going to court and make sure there is a record of what is going on - and which judges failed to act.

'[The absence of the rule of law] is very demoralising; in fact it makes you feel like a fraud.

You feel like you are pretending to be a lawyer, you get all these pieces of paper and they mean nothing.'

In October, Ms Mtetwa was assaulted by police who answered her call when she had been car-jacked.

Having defended many clients against police brutality, she found herself taken into custody and charged with being drunk.

She suffered serious bruising to her face and body.

She said: 'When you are just doing your job, you are not thinking about your own personal safety.

I have seen a lot of police brutality on my clients, and so in a way I was more psychologically prepared than if I had just read about it.'

Ms Mtetwa praised the support she has received in the UK but said backing from African and Asian counties is vital.

'Then Mugabe can't say the pressure is just coming from the old colonial countries.'

She added: 'History says things will go right at the end of the day.'