Prominent Zimbabwean rights activist Jestina Mukoko was granted bail on Monday after three months in detention, but she was unable to leave a hospital.
Mukoko was taken from her home in early December and held in an undisclosed location until being jailed on Dec. 23. She’s accused of plotting to overthrow Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe in charges that have been dismissed as trumped up.
Zimbabwean Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai had been calling for the release of Mukoko and other detainees to show Mugabe’s commitment to the unity government.
“Thank God I am free,” she told reporters from her hospital bed, where she was no longer being kept under police guard. “I will be able to see my family and go home, if I am cleared, medically.”
Mukoko was admitted to the private Avenues Clinic three weeks ago after police repeatedly ignored orders that she receive medical attention.
She said she was “very concerned” about her health problems, without describing them.
Mukoko, the respected head of a group known as the Zimbabwe Peace Project, testified that she had been abducted, tortured and assaulted. She had been held in harsh conditions at the notorious Chikurubi maximum security prison.
Mukoko and at least eight other activists were able to pay bail of US$600 cash, plus a property deed.
Tsvangirai’s party has called the arrest of party members and independent rights activists a politically motivated attempt by factions in Mugabe’s party to derail the unity government.
Prominent detainees include Roy Bennett, Tsvangirai’s nominee for deputy agriculture minister. Bennett was arrested on Feb. 13, the day the Cabinet was sworn in.
Tsvangirai’s party, the Movement for Democratic Change, said it welcomed Mukoko’s release, but demanded the release of Bennett and others “unconditionally and unharmed.”
Bennett’s lawyers were to appear in court yesterday to oppose the state’s appeal against an earlier decision of the High Court to grant him bail.
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