44 arrested after police storm GALZ meeting

by Mike Andrew - SGN Staff Writer

Zimbabwe police raided the headquarters of Gays and Lesbians of Zimbabwe (GALZ) on August 11, arresting 44 members of the group.

GALZ members had gathered at their offices in Harare, Zimbabwe's capital city, to launch their report on civil rights violations. According to the organization, 15 riot police stormed the meeting.

'GALZ deplores the arrest of its 44 members who had attended the launch of the GALZ Violations Report and a briefing on the second draft of the Zimbabwe constitution on 11 August 2012 at the GALZ offices,' the group said in a statement reported by News Day Zimbabwe.

'Four police officers attempted to gain entry into the premises before calling for backup, where about 15 riot squad members descended on the office and effected arrest. Thirty-one men and 13 women members were detained overnight at Harare Central Police Station,' the statement continued.

GALZ charged that some of the police officers were drunk and said they assaulted the group's members. 'Police, some of them visibly drunk, assaulted most of the members using baton sticks, open hands, and clenched fists before detaining them without charge. Such use of force is in direct contradiction to the Global Political Agreement,' organizers said.

'GALZ does not condone violence and we are not a threat. Those who cause violence are a threat to public safety and security and we ask that they stay away from our premises.'

Harare Chief Inspector James Sabau said police entered the GALZ headquarters looking for suspects.

'They were only taken for screening,' Sabau said about the 44 GALZ members. 'We had received information that people we were looking for were there. So it's false to say they were arrested and that they slept in the cells.'

A PATTERN OF HARASSMENT
The raid comes only a month after GALZ was charged with insulting Zimbabwe's president, Robert Mugabe, which is illegal under Section 33 of the Criminal Law Act. It was alleged that the group displayed a letter critical of Mugabe from former San Francisco Mayor Willie Brown.

In May 2010, two GALZ activists, Ellen Chademana and Ignatius Muhambi, were arrested and tortured by police before being released a week later. Police alleged they were circulating pornographic material, but they were never brought to trial.

Mugabe has been consistently hostile to his country's LGBT community, at one time calling its members 'worse than dogs and pigs.' His political party, ZANU-PF, recently vetoed proposals to include LGBT rights in Zimbabwe's new draft constitution.

Last November, Mugabe characterized as 'satanic' a suggestion by British Prime Minister David Cameron that the U.K. might cut off aid to countries that fail to respect LGBT rights.

Mugabe, now 88, was prime minister of Zimbabwe from 1980 to 1987, when he became president. In September 2010, Wikileaks reported that Mugabe was dying of prostate cancer, but that report was denied by Zimbabwe's government.

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