A battle is brewing at the Harare, Zimbabwe High Court today for human rights activist Farai Maguwu. Maguwu has been charged with publishing falsified Kimberley Process documents that implicate the Mugabe Administration in illicit diamond trade. If convicted, he faces a 20 year prison sentence. Amnesty International yesterday called for the Zimbabwe government to release Maguwu immediately and unconditionally.
Maguwu is the director of the Center for Research and Development which investigates human rights abuses in the Chiadzwa diamond fields. Maguwu recently alerted Abbey Chikane, director of the Kimberley Process in Zimbabwe, to ongoing human rights abuses and smuggling uncertified diamonds out of the country. According to Maguwu, it is likely that Chikane himself turned him over to the police.
The Zimbabwe government has been being accused of abusing Maguwu in custody, keeping his legs chained while he had an upset stomach. He is now being held and treated at the prison's hospital, suffering from conditions allegedly caused by abuse and exposure to cold. His request for bail has been denied twice. Even if the court does eventually grant him bail, there is no independent judiciary in Zimbabwe and therefore there is no guarantee that the state will agree to the court’s ruling.
The Zimbabwe police continue to delay Maguwu’s trial claiming they need more time to investigate the case. Inspector Hendy Dowa, the head investigator, has maintained that Chikane has been hard to track down having already left the country without notifying the police. He has since returned to Zimbabwe.
Police also claim that access codes to Maguwu’s laptop, which they have not been able to procure, are necessary in order to proceed with the trial. Farai insists he has the right to remain silent and does not have to give police access to his laptop. According to Maguwu, the papers in question are already in the courts possession and therefore, his personal documents are unrelated and irrelevant.
Aside from the Chiadzwa mines, Zimbabwe is also in the spotlight regarding the Marange mines. Rapaport Group chairman Martin Rapaport recently underwent a 3-day hunger strike protesting Zimbabwean human rights abuses in their state-run
diamond mining industry and the Kimberley Process’ complicity in allowing them to take place.
