Jestina Mukoko
Jestina Mukoko is a human rights activist and journalist from Zimbabwe. In 2010, she received the International Women of Courage Award.
Work
Jestina Mukoko is the director of the Zimbabwe Peace Project. She studied to be a journalist, and she was a newsreader with the Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation.
Kidnapping
On December 3, 2008, Jestina Mukoko was kidnapped from her house near the city of Harare. Dumisani Muleya of Business Day newspaper said that she was "abducted by suspected state agents for allegedly being involved in plans for anti government demonstrations."
Mukoko told The Independent newspaper that they asked her about her NGO, the Peace Project. The said she wanted to train young people to fight the government. They beat her on the bottom of her feet with rubber hoses. They said this is a favourite torture instrument in Zimbabwe because it does not leave a mark on the feet for later.
International attention
Many world leaders asked for her freedom, including Gordon Brown and Condoleezza Rice. A "Group of Elders", including Jimmy Carter, Kofi Annan and Graca Machel, wanted to come to Zimbabwe, but the government refused to let them come in. Instead, they talked to the newspapers in South Africa.
The Zimbabwe High Court told the Zimbabwe Republic Police to look for Mukoko. The police did nothing. They said they did not know where she was.
Freedom
On 24 December, Mukoko appeared in court in Harare on charges of trying to get young people to fight the government. She did not have a lawyer. She was with seven other people who were kidnapped. The group included a 72-year-old man and a two-year-old boy whose father and mother, Violet Mupfuranhehwe and Collen Mutemagawo, were also prisoners. In March 2009, three months after her kidnapping, Jestina Mukoko was free on bail. She had to go to the police station every week. They took her passport. On 21 September 2009 the Zimbabwe Supreme Court said she was free. Amnesty International said this was a good decision.
References
Other websites
2010 International Women of Courage Awards, U.S. State Department photostream on Flickr
Secretary's International Women of Courage Award (U.S. Department of State)
Women who received the International Women of Courage Award
Zimbabwean activists
Year of birth missing (living people)
Living people
Journalists
Human rights activists