Zambia accused by HRW of post-election crackdown

Human Rights Watch has accused Zambian authorities of a post-election crackdown and urged them to release people it says have been arbitrarily detained.

The rights group said Monday that police and military personnel forcibly disappeared, arbitrarily detained, beat and threatened opposition members and supporters, lawyers, journalists and government critics before and after the August 13 general elections.

President Hakainde Hichilema won a second term in the vote. The election was marred by allegations of intimidation and the suspension of counting.

Security forces raided the home of opposition leader Brian Mundubile the day after the vote and arrested 11 people. A former cabinet minister was shot dead. Mundubile, who finished a distant second, was arrested on August 27 with his running mate and charged with treason and seditious practices.

Human Rights Watch said the charges related to allegations that the two intended to raise discontent by claiming on social media that the opposition had won the election.

The group said its report was based on interviews with detainees, relatives and lawyers. It said some people had implicated Zambia's military in arbitrary detentions and enforced disappearances, and that there were claims of assault and torture, including waterboarding.

HRW deputy Africa director Ashwanee Budoo-Scholtz said Zambia needed to end what she called a human rights crackdown. The group called for access to lawyers, medical care for detainees, releases for those arbitrarily detained and accountability for abuses by security forces.

Human Rights Watch said the government had not disclosed how many people were in detention. It also said authorities cancelled the passports of six government critics who were outside the country on September 11 and arrested the Catholic archbishop of Lusaka on September 28.

Hichilema's first term was also marked by concerns over political freedoms, with opposition parties and civil society groups accusing his government of curbing dissent. The government has rejected those allegations.