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Zimbabwe Report

Imprisoned MP defies Mugabe by standing for election

by The Telegraph

A white Zimbabwean MP sentenced to hard labour for assaulting one of Robert Mugabe's ministers is to defy the regime and stand for re-election in parliamentary elections next month.

Roy Bennett's decision to contest his seat from prison on behalf of the opposition Movement for Democratic Change has infuriated President Mugabe and senior Zanu-PF officials They are embarrassed by his enormous popularity among the black population.

The government had forced Mr Bennett, 48, to join a prison chain gang, hoping that his humiliation would enable the ruling party to recapture the rural constituency after his landslide victory over Zanu-PF five years ago. Instead, his profile has been raised at home and abroad.

Last month, the authorities banished him to a jail more than 100 miles from his home after mutinous fellow inmates at Harare Central prison protested over his harsh treatment. They threatened to go on a hunger strike unless Mr

Bennett was issued with a new uniform that covered his genitals because his old uniform left them exposed. Officials gave in.

Mr Bennett was sentenced to 10 months in jail by a parliamentary committee after he pushed Patrick Chinamasa, the Justice Minister, during a heated debate in which the minister branded Mr Bennett's family "murderers and thieves".

Although the law forbids convicted criminals from standing in a general election, an official in the Attorney-General's office said Mr Bennett had not been convicted by a criminal court.

He agreed to seek re-election at the invitation of Morgan Tsvangirai, the president of the MDC. The regime's determination to defeat him threatens to turn his Chimanimani district, in the east of Zimbabwe, into one of the most violent battlegrounds of the campaign.

One constituent, Tendai Dhliwayo, said: "He has been unfairly treated. It is our duty now to prove Zanu-PF wrong by retaining him." Another supporter, Mary Sibanda, said: "We have started campaigning for Bennett. Even if he is in prison he will win hands down."

Mr Bennett's wife, Heather, told The Telegraph: "Many of the people Roy represents feel responsible for the trouble he has endured since becoming an MP. They feel that it was they who convinced him to give up farming, so it is their fault that he is suffering."

Mr Bennett's imprisonment sparked international condemnation and protests at home, with "Free Roy'' slogans appearing across Zimbabwe. A website dedicated to freeing the MP received more than 1,000 hits on its launch day.

When he was sent to the chain gang, anti-Mugabe supporters lined up for days to cheer and sing to him, whereupon the guards made him clean the lavatories instead. Eddie Cross, a senior MDC official, said: "Roy speaks and thinks in Shona and was greeted as a hero in Harare Central. He was a focus of anti-government and anti-Zanu-PF sentiment. He was a complete embarrassment and problem because the prisoners treated him as a hero."

Since her husband was transferred to remote Mutoko Prison, Mrs Bennett has made the 200-mile round trip every fortnight with their two teenage children, to spend just 10 minutes with him.

Despite the support for him, she said her husband was in low spirits. "It is very distressing for the children to see Roy as he looks now," she said. "He has lost about 18kg (40lb), has a straggly beard and long hair and looks a terrible sight. He is infested with lice and is more despondent by the day. He seems to have lost any optimism he had."

The High Court heard an appeal against Mr Bennett's sentence in November but is yet to pass judgment.

FreeRoyBennett.com.