• ALERT Date: May 17, 2007 Persons: Boldwin Hungwe Violation: Threatened Boldwin Hungwe a photographer with The Standard newspaper was reportedly summoned to Harare Central Police Station by a police officer who identified himself as Inspector Chinembiri in connection with a photograph he took of a battered and bruised Beatrice. In its Sunday edition, the paper published pictures of attorney Beatrice Mtetwa severely injured after she was abducted and tortured by police. The security forces broke up a gathering of lawyers in Harare the previous week. According to sources, after the photo was published the police called Hungwe and told him to turn himself in at the police station. It is alleged that the police officer claimed that the photograph was in violation of the Public Order and Security Act. • ALERT Date: May 10, 2007 Persons: Associated Newspapers of Zimbabwe (AN) Violation: Censored High Court judge Justice Anne-Mary Gowore dismissed and application by ANZ in which they were seeking an order to be duly licensed. Update - August 9, 2007: The government reported agreed to appoint a special committee to deal with ANZ’s application to be licensed and resume publication in terms of the restrictive Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act (AIPPA). • ALERT Date: May 8, 2007 Persons: Beatrice Mtetwa, Chris Mhike, Colin Kuhini, and Terence Fitzpatrick Violation: Other On May 8 2007, Zimbabwean human rights lawyer Beatrice Mtetwa and three other attorneys, were severely beaten by police. Mtetwa, president of the Law Society of Zimbabwe, suffered bruises on her back, arms, and legs after police in Harare beat her and three colleagues with rubber clubs for several minutes. The four attorneys were forced to lie face down before being beaten, said Mtetwa, who was treated at a local hospital and released later that day. The four lawyers, dressed in professional robes, had been forced into a police truck and driven to an open area in Harare’s outskirts after officers broke up a protest of more than 60 lawyers outside Zimbabwe’s High Court. The lawyers were gathering to present the justice minister with a petition protesting the treatment of two colleagues arrested the previous week. The two arrested lawyers were challenging the government’s detention of several opposition officials accused of involvement in bomb attacks after a police crackdown on the opposition in March. Also injured in the beating were lawyers Chris Mhike, Colin Kuhini, and Terence Fitzpatrick. • ALERT Date: March 31, 2007 Persons: Edward Chikombo Violation: Killed Edward Chikombo, a part-time cameraman for Zimbabwe state broadcaster ZBC, was abducted from his home by armed men in the Glenview township outside Harare on March 29, 2007. His body was found two days later (March 31) near Darwendale, 80 kilometres west of the capital. Chikombo was suspected of having leaked footage to the international press of brutally beaten So This Is Democracy? 2007 -133- Media Institute of Southern Africa