Over 150 women charged under draconian law of POSA in Zimbabwe
By Savious Kwinika

November 7, 2006- (CAJ) About 152 members of the Women Arise of Zimbabwe (WOZA), dubbed Operation Sunrise Demonstrators appeared before a Bulawayo magistrates court on Tuesday facing charges public disorder, breach of peace or bigotry.

The 152 women were charged under controversially enacted law of Criminal Law of which participating in any public gathering without police crearance was a crime in Zimbabwe. This draconian piece of legislation was cruely enacted under the controsially Public Order and Security Act (POSA), a piece of the legislation in which the Zanu PF government has used in the past to bar the country's main opposition political party-Movement for Democratic Chnage (MDC) from holding rallies.

This is the same act that has been used to arrest and detain the 152 WOZA women when they appeared in the Bulawayo magistrates court on Tuesday (today). The accused women are being charged under Chapter 37 of the Criminal Law (Codification and Reform) Act – ‘participating in a public gathering with the intent to cause public disorder, breach of peace or bigotry’.

If convicted, the members of WOZA could receive up to five years in custody or face a heavy fine. They were arrested on 21 August in Bulawayo while protesting against Operation Sunrise (the slashing of zeroes). Riot police arrested WOZA members as they were marching towards the RBZ offices where they intended to hand over an open letter to Gideon Gono.

The peaceful protest started at 11am at the Post Office in Main Street. As the procession turned into Leopold Takawira St, to go to the Reserve Bank, police appeared and stopped the march, arresting the members. Over 20 members, many of them minors were subjected to different forms of torture whilst in the offices of the Law and Order Department. They were made to sit on ‘air chairs’ and beaten under their feet-CAJ News.

From: http://www.andnetwork.com/index?service=direct/0/Home/older.titleStory&sp=l55498