Petition protest after Zimbabwe police arrest Law Society president and secretary

DOCUMENTS: pair are accused by Mugabe government of possessing subversive material

Zimbabwe Law Society president Sternford Moyo was last week arrested and detained by police in what international lawyers say is a major attack on the country's profession.

Mr Moyo and the society's executive secretary Wilbert Mapombere were arrested on suspicion of possessing subversive documents.

These were alleged to be related to the mass action supposedly planned by the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) to force President Robert Mugabe to re-run March's disputed elections.

However, both men were released after three days without charge, as no evidence was produced against them.

The International Bar Association (IBA) said it was 'shocked and deeply concerned' at the arrests.

IBA human rights institute worker Esther Major said: 'We believe the government's searches of Mr Moyo's house and the law society headquarters are directly related to the strong stance Mr Moyo has taken on issues such as the lack of independence of the Zimbabwean judiciary.'

She added that the Zimbabwe Law Society had an 'excellent' reputation for its independent and non-partisan positions, and it only issued statements 'where it felt that the rule of law or independence of the judiciary had been threatened'.

The Zimbabwe Law Society recently published its end-of-year report, which expressed concern at the government's threatening actions towards the judiciary in the form of sustained abuse, defamatory remarks and threats of violence.

Many former members of the judiciary have resigned and been replaced with known sympathisers of the ruling Zanu PF party (see interview with opposition MP David Coltart, [2002] Gazette, 7 June, 4).

Nankunda Katangaza, an international policy executive at the Law Society of England and Wales, strongly condemned the arrests and warned that unless pressure was put on the government, arrests such as these could happen again.

The Law Society has protested to the Zimbabwe government and, as a sign of solidarity with the Zimbabwe Law Society, is launching a petition in support of the two men as part of its pro bono week.

For more information e-mail: Mel.James@lawsociety.org.uk

Victoria MacCallum