Episcopal News Service reports that Jestina Mukoko, a Zimbabwe Anglican and human rights activist, has been presented with the 2010 International Women of Courage award by the U.S. Department of State.
Mukoko, who serves as executive director of the Zimbabwe Peace Project, a nongovernmental organization that monitors human rights abuses throughout the country, is among 10 women who received the award this year during a March 10 ceremony at the state department’s Washington, D.C., offices.
Mukoko “is a long-time leader in the human rights and activist communities in Zimbabwe, and, as a broadcaster for the Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation, a pioneering role model,” according to information posted on the U.S. Department of State website.
The website notes that on Dec. 3, 2008, Mukoko was abducted from her home by state security agents. “She was beaten, tortured, forced to confess to an alleged plot to mount a terrorist incursion from neighboring Botswana, and subsequently imprisoned. A court granted her bail on March 2, 2009.”
Mukoko appealed her arrest and the Zimbabwean Supreme Court ruled on Sept. 28, 2009 “that state security forces had violated her human rights to such an extent as to warrant a permanent stay of prosecution in the case against her. A concurrent civil suit is still pending,” the website says.
Zimbabwe has experienced an economic and socio-political crisis under the leadership of President Robert Mugabe, whose ZANU-PF party continues to hold on to power despite being defeated by Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai and his opposition Movement for Democratic Change in the March 2008 elections
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