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For Immediate Release

Zimbabwe's President Mugabe Must Stop Abuses Against Opposition Activists and Denial of Medical Care

Cambridge, Mass - 03/27/2007

In a letter to President Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe, Physicians for Human Rights condemns the torture and assaults on and denial of medical treatment to members of the opposition party and other peaceful activists by police and security personnel. PHR cites cases from medical colleagues in Zimbabwe that describe dozens of injuries to the individuals, including fractures and soft tissue injuries, head injuries and a ruptured bowel due to blows to the abdomen by police. Some individuals were denied medical treatment, leading to more serious injuries. Denial of such care is an egregious violation of human rights.

PHR calls on President Mugabe to restore respect for human rights to all the people of Zimbabwe, including free expression, personal security, health and economic well-being.

Physicians for Human Rights (PHR) is an independent organization that uses medicine and science to stop mass atrocities and severe human rights violations against individuals. We are supported by the expertise and passion of health professionals and concerned citizens alike.

Since 1986, PHR has conducted investigations in more than 40 countries around the world, including Afghanistan, Congo, Rwanda, Sudan, the United States, the former Yugoslavia, and Zimbabwe.

• 1988 — First to document Iraq’s use of chemical weapons against Kurds
• 1996 — Exhumed mass graves in the Balkans
• 1996 — Produced critical forensic evidence of genocide in Rwanda
• 1997 — Shared the Nobel Peace Prize for the International Campaign to Ban Landmines
• 2003 — Warned of health and human rights catastrophe prior to the invasion of Iraq
• 2004 — Documented and analyzed the genocide in Darfur
• 2005 — Detailed the story of tortured detainees in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Guantánamo Bay
• 2010 — Showed how CIA medical personnel sought to improve waterboarding and
                other interrogation techniques that amount to torture
• 2011 — Championed the principle of noninterference with medical services
                in times of armed conflict and civil unrest during the Arab Spring