Battered Tsvangirai appears in court

The leader of Zimbabwe's main opposition party and about 50 other democracy activists - some of them bandaged and bruised - appeared in court today, two days after they were arrested for trying to attending an opposition meeting.

Morgan Tsvangirai, leader of the Movement for Democratic Change, had a large gash on his head with about 10 stitches. His face and eyes were badly swollen. Tsvangirai was allegedly tortured after being arrested when police crushed the gathering organized as a prayer meeting by a coalition of opposition, church and civic groups under the "Save Zimbabwe" banner.

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The group brought to a magistrate's court today arrived singing and chanting, transported in a large police truck.

Their lawyer, Beatrice Mtetwa, said no charges were immediately laid and the state prosecutor had no instructions. She said legal representatives were on their way to the office of the attorney general to learn whether the activists would be released. The court adjourned for lunch with the group still sitting inside.

Late Monday, High Court Judge Chinemberi Bhunu had ordered police to allow Tsvangirai the others to receive immediate medical treatment and access to their lawyers.

Bhunu said that if police refused to comply with his ruling, he wanted to see the prisoners in his court by 8 a.m. (0600 GMT). He also ordered they be charged or released by noon (1000 GMT) Tuesday. Instead, they were brought to the magistrate's court hours after Bhunu's deadline.

Lawyers had said earlier police did not allow the medical care and legal advice Bhunu had ordered.

Doctors for Human Rights said in statement that at least 20 people were in urgent need of medical attention, including Tsvangirai, after Sunday's unrest.

The US ambassador to Zimbabwe told the British Broadcasting Corp. that a local civil rights activist was permitted to see Tsvangirai Tuesday and reported that he was in "very grave condition."

"He is apparently suffering from some kind of head injuries that have left him disoriented and not clearly focused mentally," Ambassador Christopher Dell said.

One activist, Lovemore Madhuku, arrived at the court Tuesday with a bandaged arm. Another, Greg Kwinje, had head wounds around his ear. "Save Zimbabwe" members outside the court said they were worried that their friends might have internal injuries because of police beatings.

Sunday, one opposition activist, Gift Tandare, was shot dead in unrest surrounding the prayer meeting. Two mourners were slightly injured Tuesday at his funeral in skirmishes with police.

As the clampdown continued, police raided the main office of the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions.

"Staff were harassed, threatened, some were slapped and beaten up. All offices were searched and flyers, files and some video tapes were seized," the union said in a statement. It said the financial administrator, Galileo Chirebvu, was taken away by police who had a search warrant and said they were looking for "subversive material."

United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Louise Arbour added her voice to the mounting international criticism of Zimbabwean authorities.

"This form of repression and intimidation of a peaceful assembly is unacceptable, and the loss of life makes this even more disturbing," she said.

U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, the US State Department and the European Union have also criticized the arrests and apparent ill-treatment of the activists.

Opponents of President Robert Mugabe blame him for acute food shortages, inflation of some 1,600 percent — the highest in the world — and repression and corruption. They have demanded the ouster of 83-year-old Mugabe, Zimbabwe's only ruler since independence from Britain in 1980.

Zimbabwe's Information Minister Sikhanyiso Ndlovu told the BBC's Network Africa program Tuesday that the police had been attacked by opposition activists.

"The opposition has been involved in violence, caught by police with weapons of destruction and destroying cars and stores and beating up people," Ndlovu told the BBC. "They've been beating up police you know. That is what government cannot tolerate."