Tortured farmer maintains challenge to Mugabe land grab
By Jan Raath
Harare - An elderly white Zimbabwean farmer severely tortured with his wife and son-in-law a fortnight ago to force him to withdraw an international legal challenge to President Robert Mugabe's violent farm seizures is pressing ahead with his case, a relative said Tuesday.
The 10-person tribunal of the Southern African Development Community (SADC), the regional bloc, is set to sit in the Namibian capital Windhoek on Wednesday to hear a petition by Mike Campbell, 73, and 77 other white farmers to have Zimbabwe's controversial eviction laws overturned.
Zimbabwean farmer Mike Campbell, who is 74 years old, was abducted and beaten with rifle butts in June this year to force him to withdraw an international legal challenge to President Robert Mugabe's violent farm seizures.
On June 29, a group of militiamen loyal to Mugabe abducted Campbell, his wife, Angela, 66, and son-in-law Ben Freeth, 38, from their farm in Chegutu about 100 kilometres west of the capital Harare and subjected them nine hours of assault and torture in an attempt to force them to ditch their case.
Campbell, a large-scale fruit exporter, suffered severe concussion, smashed fingers, a broken collarbone and extensive lacerations and bruising. His wife's arm was broken in two places and a burning stick thrust in her mouth, while Freeth nearly lost an eye and was lashed at length on the soles of his feet.
During the assaults, Angela Campbell was forced to sign an 'agreement' that they would withdraw their case from the Windhoek tribunal. But, lawyers said, there was no obligation to honour the signing because it was done under 'severe duress.'
'No, my dad has no intention of withdrawing the case,' said their son Bruce. 'Ben has gone to Windhoek with our lawyer, but my dad hasn't gone, he still cannot walk around. He's alright, he's recovering slowly, but he's going to be bedridden for another three weeks.'
President Mugabe is a signatory to the treaty setting up the SADC tribunal, which has the right to hear appeals from any of SADC's 14 members on the provisions of the bloc's
founding treaty, including the rule of law.
Campbell has already lodged an appeal against his threatened eviction from his farm with the Zimbabwe supreme court, but 16 months later his case has yet to be heard.
Only about 300 of around 4,500 white farmers that were working the land in Zimbabwe in 2000 are still in agriculture following a violent campaign of lawless land invasions by Mugabe party members, cronies and youth militia.
Campbell and the other 77 farmers are challenging a law introduced last year that denies farmers threatened with eviction the right to appeal. They also insist that the evictions are 'fundamentally racist.'
'It's an open and shut case,' said John Worsley-Worswick, spokesman for the Justice for Agriculture lobby group that campaigns for the rights of white farmers.
'I don't believe there is a single farmer that has been legally evicted.'
The SADC tribunal has ordered the Zimbabwe government not to evict the Campbells or the other farmers pending their hearing but state- backed militia have defied the injunction by invading a number of the farms in recent weeks.
Bruce Campbell said police had arrested two senior Zanu-PF war veterans in connection with the attack on his parents' farm.
Harare - An elderly white Zimbabwean farmer severely tortured with his wife and son-in-law a fortnight ago to force him to withdraw an international legal challenge to President Robert Mugabe's violent farm seizures is pressing ahead with his case, a relative said Tuesday.
The 10-person tribunal of the Southern African Development Community (SADC), the regional bloc, is set to sit in the Namibian capital Windhoek on Wednesday to hear a petition by Mike Campbell, 73, and 77 other white farmers to have Zimbabwe's controversial eviction laws overturned.
Zimbabwean farmer Mike Campbell, who is 74 years old, was abducted and beaten with rifle butts in June this year to force him to withdraw an international legal challenge to President Robert Mugabe's violent farm seizures.
On June 29, a group of militiamen loyal to Mugabe abducted Campbell, his wife, Angela, 66, and son-in-law Ben Freeth, 38, from their farm in Chegutu about 100 kilometres west of the capital Harare and subjected them nine hours of assault and torture in an attempt to force them to ditch their case.
Campbell, a large-scale fruit exporter, suffered severe concussion, smashed fingers, a broken collarbone and extensive lacerations and bruising. His wife's arm was broken in two places and a burning stick thrust in her mouth, while Freeth nearly lost an eye and was lashed at length on the soles of his feet.
During the assaults, Angela Campbell was forced to sign an 'agreement' that they would withdraw their case from the Windhoek tribunal. But, lawyers said, there was no obligation to honour the signing because it was done under 'severe duress.'
'No, my dad has no intention of withdrawing the case,' said their son Bruce. 'Ben has gone to Windhoek with our lawyer, but my dad hasn't gone, he still cannot walk around. He's alright, he's recovering slowly, but he's going to be bedridden for another three weeks.'
President Mugabe is a signatory to the treaty setting up the SADC tribunal, which has the right to hear appeals from any of SADC's 14 members on the provisions of the bloc's
founding treaty, including the rule of law.
Campbell has already lodged an appeal against his threatened eviction from his farm with the Zimbabwe supreme court, but 16 months later his case has yet to be heard.
Only about 300 of around 4,500 white farmers that were working the land in Zimbabwe in 2000 are still in agriculture following a violent campaign of lawless land invasions by Mugabe party members, cronies and youth militia.
Campbell and the other 77 farmers are challenging a law introduced last year that denies farmers threatened with eviction the right to appeal. They also insist that the evictions are 'fundamentally racist.'
'It's an open and shut case,' said John Worsley-Worswick, spokesman for the Justice for Agriculture lobby group that campaigns for the rights of white farmers.
'I don't believe there is a single farmer that has been legally evicted.'
The SADC tribunal has ordered the Zimbabwe government not to evict the Campbells or the other farmers pending their hearing but state- backed militia have defied the injunction by invading a number of the farms in recent weeks.
Bruce Campbell said police had arrested two senior Zanu-PF war veterans in connection with the attack on his parents' farm.
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