Human Rights Lawyers Hopeful Security Forces Will Respect Court Order
Human rights lawyers are hopeful that security forces will adhere to a High Court ruling that they should not beat people or violate human rights when enforcing the 21-day lockdown.
There have been widespread reports of alleged human rights abuses in recent days perpetrated by police and army officers deployed to ensure people comply with the COVID-19 lockdown orders.
This prompted the Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights approach the courts seeking an order for the rights abuses to stop.
Speaking after the court judgement, Advocate Jeremiah Bhamu who was representing the Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights said:
Our prayer is that the police and all other security forces involved in the compliance of the lockdown must comply with the law in the work that they would be doing.
They should not assault people, they should not set dogs on people, they should not confiscate or destroy people’s property.
What it means is that human rights have not been suspended in this period but people should comply with the lockdown.
