Mnangagwa Told To Release Teachers Union Leader In Jail For Murder
25 June 2022
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By A Correspondent| The American Federation of Labour and Congress of Industrial Organisations has written to President Emmerson Mnangagwa demanding the unconditional release of Amalgamated Rural Teachers Union of Zimbabwe (ARTUZ) President Obert Masaraure who is currently in detention on charges of murder.

The AFL-CIO said they are concerned that Masaraure was arrested after receiving an award in Dublin and that reliable sources had warned him of the impending arrest while he was out of the country receiving the 2022 Front Line Defenders Award for Human Rights Defenders at Risk for Africa.

Below is the AFL-CIO letter to Mnangagwa.

Dear President Mnangagwa:

On behalf of the 12.5 million members of the AFL-CIO, the largest union federation in the United States, I write to express our deep concern on the continued violation of worker and human rights in your country, including the detention of Obert Masaraure, the national president of the Amalgamated Rural Teachers Union of Zimbabwe (ARTUZ).

On June 14 2022, Obert Masaraure, was arrested at the Harare Central Police station. The human rights defender had gone to the police station as part of the conditions of his remand bail hearing for the case of treason and participating in a lawful teachers protest. Obert Masaraure has been charged with murder, in addition to the previous charges.

As president of ARTUZ, Obert Masaraure works to defend the labor rights of teachers and to protect schools, students and teachers from political interference and manipulation.

He provides leadership and direction for the organization and leads networking and communication on behalf of the Union. ARTUZ is also the winner of the 2022 Front Line Defenders Award for Human Rights Defenders at Risk for Africa.

On May 27, 2022, Obert Masaraure received the award in Dublin on behalf of ARTUZ and travelled to Brussels for a series of meetings with EU officials after the Awards ceremony where he tweeted about many of the meetings, as did EU officials.

In June 2016, Obert Masaraure was participating in a workshop organized by Friedrich Ebert Stiftung Organization (FES) and hosted at the Jameson Hotel in Zimbabwe. During this workshop, a youth activist and associate member of ARTUZ Roy Issa fell from the 7th floor of the hotel, losing his life.

During the initial investigation into the incident, Obert Masaraure was not interrogated or considered a witness as he was not present at the hotel at the time of the unfortunate event.

The case was heard by the Court Inquest in 2016 at Harare Magistrate Court and the court ruled out any form of foul play.

On June 14, 2022, Obert Masaraure was arrested and charged with the murder of Roy Issa when he went to the Harare Central Police station for his routine remand bail hearing.

This arrest and charge comes a few days after Obert Masaraure received the award in Dublin and a few days before the peaceful protests ARTUZ planned to hold from the 20th to 24th of June.

In addition to this, the defender reports that he had been warned by reliable sources that he would be arrested upon his return from Dublin.

Obert Masaraure still faces a long list of charges including a charge of treason for “subverting a constitutionally elected government and inciting public violence” going back to 2019.

The defender is currently at the High Court of Harare, the area surrounding the court is being cordoned off by heavily armed police and the public is barred from the court and the area around it.

Obert Masaraure and ARTUZ have long been targeted for their peaceful work in defense of human right and labor rights. The recent incident is part of a pattern of violations against ARTUZ and its members which started in December 2018 and have continued to escalate.

These incidents come in a context of harassment and detentions committed against human rights defenders in Zimbabwe in reprisal for their work on the right to education in rural areas, labor and other civil rights.

The AFL-CIO is deeply concerned about the arbitrary detention, ill-treatment and judicial harassment of ARTUZ human rights defenders and believes that these measures are solely motivated by their legitimate activities in defense of human rights.

The AFL-CIO condemns the ongoing human rights violations by security agents and recognizes them as part of an effort to clamp down on freedoms, specifically against human rights defenders fighting for the right to education in rural areas, labor and other civil rights in Zimbabwe.

The AFL-CIO urges the authorities of Zimbabwe to:

1. Immediately drop all charges against Obert Masaraure, as it is believed that they are solely motivated by his legitimate and peaceful work in defense of human rights;

2. Immediately and unconditionally release Obert Masaraure;

3. Cease targeting all human rights defenders in Zimbabwe, and guarantee in all circumstances that all human rights defenders in Zimbabwe are able to carry out their legitimate human rights activities without fear of reprisals and free of all restrictions, including judicial harassment.