Fresh calls for return of abducted journalist

Amnesty International has pleaded with the Zimbabwean Government to establish the whereabouts of journalist Itai Dzamara who disappeared exactly six years ago. New Zimbabwe reports that he was dragged into an unmarked vehicle in Harare while having a hair-cut. Dzamara, who led Occupy Africa Unity Square movement, called for former President Robert Mugabe to step down. ‘People do not just disappear into the thin air. Someone knows where Itai Dzamara is,’ said Amnesty International director Jessica Pwiti. And Zimbabwe Human Rights Forum has criticised the new dispensation for failing to address Dzamara’s disappearance. ‘The new dispensation prides itself on being reformists. However, the continued abductions and torture of citizens speak to a chilling intolerance to dissent and critique and a state bent on consolidating power at the expense of fundamental human rights of citizens,’ said forum deputy chairperson Chester Samba.