A Supreme Court judge has ordered police to provide clean water, mattresses, blankets and toilet paper to detainees at Harare Central Remand Prison. Staff Reporter
The judge also ruled that women should be allowed to wear undergarments while in detention.
Members of Women of Zimbabwe Arise (Woza) filed the case four years ago following their detention at the remand prison where they claim that they were exposed to inhumane conditions.
Woza co-directors Jenni Williams and Magodonga Mahlangu said they were happy about the judgment and dedicated the ruling to women in Zimbabwe.
Williams, Mahlangu, Celina Madukani and Clara Manjengwa had through the Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights (ZLHR) petitioned the Supreme Court seeking an order compelling the government to ensure that holding cells at Harare Central Police Station meet basic hygienic conditions.
Home Affairs minister Kembo Mohadi, Police Commissioner-General Augustine Chihuri and Prosecutor General Johannes Tomana were cited as respondents in the case filed in 2011.
The Woza leaders petitioned the court after their detention in 2011.
“They were arrested for demonstrating against the government’s failure to adhere to human rights,” ZHLR had said in a statement ahead of the ruling.
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“Woza, whose members are regularly detained in dirty police cells for staging anti-government protests wants the detention cells at Harare Central Police Station to be cleaned and resourced with toilet paper and washing bowls and not the current case where the conditions are unhygienic.”
— Additional reporting by VOA
