ABA President Calls for Mugabe to Restore Rule of Law
Against a backdrop of increasingly violent contention that has led Britain’s Queen Elizabeth II to rescind the knighthood of Zimbabwe’s President Robert Mugabe, the president of the ABA today sent a letter (PDF) to Mugabe.
It calls for Mugabe to put an end to “state-sponsored violence and intimidation of lawyers” and restore the rule of law via “free and fair elections.”
“We are especially concerned about recent threats of violence and unlawful detentions that have caused members of the Law Society of Zimbabwe such as Harrison Nkomo, Andrew Makoni and Eric Matinenga, among others, to curtail or cease their advocacy or to flee Zimbabwe for their safety,” writes President William H. Neukom. “The abduction of lawyer Ernest Jena from his office in Bindura on June 24, 2008, also is of serious concern.”
The letter comes as the World Justice Forum is about to convene in Vienna, Austria, on Wednesday.
Additional coverage:
London Times: “Queen strips Robert Mugabe of knighthood in ‘revulsion’ at violence”
London Times: “War crimes warning to Robert Mugabe as terror grows”
London Times: “Robert Mugabe’s thugs run riot in election crackdown”
NPR: “Mugabe Cold-Shouldered At African Summit”
