IRELAND/ZIMBABWE: The Oireachtas will today support a motion condemning the imprisonment of Roy Bennett, a member of Zimbabwe's parliament.
Mr Bennett, a member of the opposition Movement for Democratic Change, was jailed in October 2004 for a year by parliament and not by a court.
The motion going before the Dáil today notes "the apparently arbitrary procedures employed in Mr Bennett's trial" and "while it is not possible to condone the action for which Mr Bennett was sentenced, it is clear that the sentence imposed was politically motivated and wholly disproportionate".
The imprisonment of Mr Bennett "is one of many incidents in an overall pattern of harassment, intimidation and violence which opposition politicians and supporters have faced in Zimbabwe for some years now . . . regrettably, the overall human rights situation in Zimbabwe continues to deteriorate, with arbitrary arrests and ongoing politically inspired violence".
Once passed, the motion moved in the name of the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Dermot Ahern, will be sent to the speaker of the Zimbabwean parliament.