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00:00So, bad news for some of the over 160 people who have been detained in Zimbabwe since June.
00:07We were expecting today over 60 of them to be released on bail, but that was denied.
00:13These members of the opposition and activists were detained in June.
00:18Police alleged that they were conspiring to protest the president of Zimbabwe, Emerson
00:24Mnangagwa, from becoming the chairperson of the Southern African Development Committee.
00:32Their lawyers, the detainees' lawyers, argue that the constitution of Zimbabwe allows for
00:37freedom of assembly and called for the immediate release of their clients.
00:43But three months on, some of them are still behind bars.
00:46Let's take a listen to one of their lawyers today, outside the courts, on why they were
00:51denied bail.
00:52I'm sure they gave many reasons.
00:58One of which is that if admitted to bail, applicants would interfere, would not be,
01:07in fact, it would not be in the proper interest of the administration of justice if granted,
01:12if admitted to bail.
01:14That was the main reason given.
01:16And the other one is that the trial has commenced, it's now at the defence stage, and therefore
01:22very soon we should be concluding the trial.
01:26Now some of these detained activists claim that they were tortured by authorities when
01:31they were detained.
01:32One women's rights activist claimed that she had a boot stuffed in her mouth.
01:37Another teachers' unionist appeared bloodied in his first appearance in court.
01:44Amnesty International claims to have evidence of this alleged torture.
01:49And all the more reasons to give critics another reason to say that the ruling party, who has
01:54been in power since 1980, is stifling democracy.