Three activists removed from plane in Zimbabwe without bail

Zimbabwean authorities have refused bail to three activists who were dramatically arrested after being forced off a plane last month, on the eve of a high-profile international summit in the country.

Robson Cherry, Namatai Kwekwisa and Samuel Gwenzi were charged with disorderly conduct for protesting outside a courthouse in June over the arrest of dozens of opposition supporters.

Zimbabwe Human Rights Lawyers said the judge ruled they were likely to flee, commit other crimes and cause public frustration.

The trio’s lawyer said they were held for several hours without being allowed to see a legal representative, and were tortured shortly after their arrest.

The three were on their way to the Victoria Falls resort in Zimbabwe to attend a conference when they were removed from the domestic flight.

Mr Cherry, the teachers’ union leader, was wearing blood-stained clothes and in pain during his first court appearance earlier this month.

Women’s rights advocate Ms Kwekweza says she was not in the country when the alleged crime took place. Her lawyer said at a previous hearing that she was hit in the mouth during interrogation.

Mr. Guenzi’s lawyer, a local councillor and human rights activist, also described how his client’s interrogators threatened to harm his family.

UN-appointed human rights experts called for the group’s immediate release and the dropping of all charges against them.

Zimbabwean President Emmerson Mnangagwa is set to formally assume the chairmanship of the Southern African Development Community (SADC), a 16-nation regional bloc in southern Africa, on Saturday.

The summit will be held in the capital, Harare, with the attendance of a number of heads of state.

Zimbabwean authorities have arrested more than 160 opposition politicians, activists and union leaders since mid-June, rights groups say.

Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International say they have found evidence of torture, and believe the arrests set a dangerous tone for SADC’s commitment to human rights under Mr Mnangagwa’s presidency.

In a joint statement, the two rights groups urged SADC leaders to condemn human rights violations in Zimbabwe and press for the release of detainees.

In recent days, according to ZLHR, two politicians belonging to the main opposition party, the Citizens’ Coalition for Change (CCC), have also been arrested.