#Zimbabwe-an prison authorities today ignored a doctor’s request that #HopewellChinono be held in isolation & should not appear in remand court pending his #COVID_19 test results. They ferried him to court regardless & the state failed to give a trial date as promised.
#HopewellChinino will appear in remand court again on Sept 14, with the state promising that it will supply a trial date then. His lawyer @DougColtart says that prison authorities lied to Hopewell claiming his doctor was there to see him & instead forced him into the prison van.
#HopewellChinono protested & repeated what his doctor had told authorities the previous day. It fell on deaf ears. He was also taken to court without having taken his medication. This is the pattern of abuse that is all to familiar since Hopewell’s arrest more than a month ago.
Speaking to the press after last month’s @achpr_cadhp ordinary session, chairperson @SolomonADersso , was asked about jailed journalists amid #COVID__19 & the increased risks they & other detainees face in jail. Dersso said as follows:
“When journalists on account of the critical importance of their work are in the custody of the state, the state’s responsibility gets heightened, because when you have somebody in custody, then their life, security & health is basically in your hands.” @SolomonADersso added:
“Then you become entirely responsible for the health, security & life of that person. Which means you have an obligation to make sure that the conditions of custody do not lead to undermining the health security & wellbeing of the person in state custody.” @SolomonADersso cont.:
“When this is not done, obviously questions of responsibility arise, questions of violations of rights arise,” said @SolomonADersso, adding, that in the context of #COVID__19 the view that emerged was that states should use detention “as a last resort”.
.@SolomonADersso said this was because detention could lead to congestion in spaces of detention. “The risk of spread increases & that becomes counterproductive to the effort to contain the virus.” The @achpr_cadhp chair said, if as a last measure, detention did happen, then:
“It is imperative that in those spaces of detention, #COVID_19 containment measures are put in place (and) people are provided with PPEs, including masks, sanitizing of public public spaces & so on.
