A/HRC/13/42* page 128 incommunicado detention for up to seven months, and then put them on trial for acts of sabotage, banditry and terrorism against the Government, which was a clear manipulation of terrorist-related rhetoric for political ends. 279. Those seized included Broderick Takawira, Pascal Gonzo and Jestina Mukoko, the director of the Zimbabwe Peace Project (ZPP) and a well-known human rights campaigner, whose case was considered by the Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances.485 From January to September 2008, ZPP catalogued 20,143 crimes committed by those working for the Government, including 202 murders, 463 abductions, 41 rapes, 411 cases of torture and 3,942 assaults.486 Ms. Mukoko was taken from her home by armed men at daybreak on 3 December 2008, and later testified that she was held in secret locations, where she was tortured in an attempt to extract a false confession. She said that her captors made her kneel on gravel and repeatedly beat her on the soles of her feet with rubber truncheons during interrogations.487 280. Other people seized included Chris Dhlamini, an aide to the leader of the opposition and Prime Minister in waiting, Morgan Tsvangirai, who was seized from his home on 25 November 2008. Mr. Dhlamini stated that he was detained in Goromonzi Prison Complex until 22 December 2008, but was moved, at various times, to undisclosed locations, where he was “subjected to extreme forms of torture to extract false information and confessions”. He recalled being “suspended from a considerable height” and beaten all over his body with what felt like a tin full of stones. Describing another incident, he explained, “I was lifted up and my head was submerged in the sink and held there for long periods by someone, in a mock drowning, which is another severe form of torture (waterboarding) to which I was subjected during my unlawful abduction and detention. This mock drowning went on an on, until I felt that I was on the verge of dying.”488 485 A/HRC/13/31, para. 629. 486 Jenny Booth, “Zimbabwe human rights activist Jestina Mukoko taken back to jail”, Times, 5 May 2009. Available from http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/ africa/article6225536.ece. 487 See the affidavit of Jestina Mukoko at the address http://graphics8.nytimes.com/packages/pdf/world/2009/JM_Affidavit.pdf. 488 See the affidavit of Chris Dhlamini at the address http://graphics8.nytimes.com/packages/pdf/world/2009/CD_affidavit.pdf. See also those of Chinoto Zulu, at http://graphics8.nytimes.com/packages/pdf/world/2009/ AFFIDAVIT_OF_CHINOTO_MUKWEZARAMBA_ZULU.pdf; of Gandi Mudzingwa, at http://graphics8.nytimes.com/packages/pdf/world/2009/AFFIDAVIT_OF_GANDI_MUDZING WA.pdf; of Zachariah Nkomo, at http://graphics8.nytimes.com/packages/pdf/ world/2009/AFFIDAVIT_OF_ZACHARIAH_NKOMO.pdf; and of Andrison Manyere, at http://graphics8.nytimes.com/packages/pdf/world/2009/Andrison_Manyere_Affidavit.pdf. Jestina Mukoko also explained that two of her ZPP colleagues, Broderick Takawira and Pascal Gonzo, were held in cells near her own in one of the places of secret detention in which she was held.

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