ZIMBABWE: Activists appeal Malawi ban

JOHANNESBURG, 23 January (IRIN) - Four Zimbabwean human rights activists
are challenging their arrest, deportation and permanent banning from
Malawi.

The activists, representing the umbrella Zimbabwe Crisis Group, were
arrested a day before the 14 January Southern African Development
Community (SADC) summit and returned to Harare as the summit got under
way.

Malawian police told the group, which had planned on making
representations to leaders at the summit and on consulting civil society
groups, that their presence in the country was a threat to national
security. Their passports were endorsed, making it impossible for them to
return.

ZimRights director Bidi Munyaradzi, who was one of those arrested, told
IRIN on Tuesday that a board meeting on 2 February would decide "on the
best way to challenge the classification and deportation".

He said they had already written to the Malawian high commissioner in
Zimbabwe asking for government clarification on the incident. "We have
further said that if we get no clarification we will make an appeal at an
international level, especially since we did not break any Malawi or
international laws," Munyaradzi added.
[ENDS]

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