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UK Gay Activist Presents Evidence In Mugabe Arrest Bid
by Malcolm Thornberry
365Gay.com Newscenter
European Bureau Chief
Posted: January 7, 2004 2:01 p.m. ET
(London) British gay rights activist Peter Tatchell Wednesday submitted a 52 page brief to a judge in London outlining civil rights abuses by Zimbabwe strongman Robert Mugabe.
Tatchell has for several years attempted to have Mugabe arrested for crimes against humanity. The Zimbabwe president is accused of inciting "anti-gay hatred". In numerous attacks, he has described gays as lower than "pigs or dogs."
Tatchell's brief centered on allegations of torture, beatings, and the systematic roundup of his opposition. It quotes extensively from reports made by more than a half dozen international human rights groups and contains interviews with victims of the regime.
The document also contains a legal opinion by Ralf Wilde, a top law lecturer from the University College of London who argued that serving heads of state can be extradited for atrocities committed by their governments. In the past courts have rejected attempts to arrest heads of state while they are still in power.
Tatchell is applying for an arrest warrant and extradition order against Mugabe on charges of torture under UK law and the UN Convention Against Torture.
After a two hour hearing, Justice Timothy Workman adjourned the court until January 14 for him to study the evidence.
Outside the court Tatchell said he was "quietly confident" that "some kind of warrant" would be granted.
"If an arrest warrant and extradition order is granted, it would mean Mugabe could be arrested and extradited to Britain from any of the 100-plus countries with which Britain has an extradition treaty, including Switzerland, France, Malaysia, Thailand and South Africa - all of which he has visited recently,� said Tatchell.
Mugabe already faces possible indictment in Canada for human rights abuses, deliberate deprivation of food and the Matabeleland genocide which claimed 20 000 lives in the first decade of his 23-year-rule.
The federal government has been asked to approve a genocide indictment against Mugabe. The case, observers say, could be the first real test of Canada's Crimes Against Humanity and War Crimes Act.
Tatchell's case is not related to the Canadian extradition request.
�365Gay.com� 2004
