Gay Today: World

Humanists Blast Belgian Negligence
in Activist's Beating

British activist Peter Tatchell

Compiled By GayToday

Britain's only gay and lesbian secular organization has protested to the Belgian ambassador in London about the beating meted out to the gay rights campaigner Peter Tatchell in Brussels Monday, when he tried to arrest Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe.

As Mr. Tatchell tried to arrest the president on charges of torture under the 1984 UN Convention Against Torture, he was punched and kicked by Mr. Mugabe's bodyguards, who knocked him to the ground three times. Meanwhile, Belgian secret service agents did nothing to stop the beating, but stepped aside and allowed the bodyguards to carry on with the assault.

Two Zimbabwean agents, believed to be members of Mugabe's Central Intelligence Organization (CIO), threatened to have Tatchell traced and killed: "You are dead," said one. "We will find you and kill you," said the other.

"The assaults on me by the president's bodyguards highlight the brutal nature of the Mugabe regime," said Mr. Tatchell.

Meanwhile, the Gay and Lesbian Humanist Association (GALHA) has written to Lode Willems, the Belgian ambassador, saying it is "very concerned" about the lack of protection offered to Mr. Tatchell during what was an entirely peaceful protest.

"The international media have made it clear that Belgian secret service agents stepped aside and gave the president's security men free rein to beat Mr. Tatchell unconscious," writes GALHA's secretary, George Broadhead.

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"When Mr. Tatchell confronted the president on a second occasion outside Prime Minister Guy Verhofstadt's office, uniformed police made no attempt to stop the menacing response of the Zimbabwe security officers. On each occasion Mr. Tatchell offered no resistance and posed no physical threat to President Mugabe."

Mr Broadhead continued:

"We are also concerned that the Belgian government should have hosted President Mugabe in the first place given the fact that it has incorporated the 1984 UN Convention into its domestic legislation and, according to Belgian law, the authorities are under a legal obligation to arrest any person present in Belgian territory who has committed or authorised acts of torture anywhere in the world."