The European Union has called upon the government of Zimbabwe to shed light on the whereabouts of journalist and pro-democracy activist Itai Dzamara.
Dzamara, a staunch critic of Robert Mugabe, was allegedly kidnapped by suspected state security personnel from a barbershop on 9 March 2015. Posting on Twitter, the European Union said:
Five years after his abduction, Itai #Dzamara remains missing. We call on Govt to shed light on his fate & serve justice, and to tackle all human rights violations decisively, in line with #Zimbabwe‘s repeated commitment to human rights, freedoms & national healing.
Dzamara’s wife, Sheffra, has appealed to President Emmerson Mnangagwa and his government to help locate her husband.
Muleya Mwananyanda, Amnesty International’s Deputy Director for Southern Africa also said that it is cruel to withhold information concerning Dzamara’s whereabouts for five years. She said:
Imagine not being able to tell your children if their father is alive or dead. Someone knows where Itai Dzamara is, but they have chosen to subject his family to five long years of uncertainty.
Before his disappearance, Dzamara had been repeatedly harassed and beaten up by Zimbabwe’s security forces, in broad daylight, for carrying out Occupy Africa Unity Square campaign against Mugabe’s administration.