I’ve talked about Roy Bennett and his imprisonment for weeks, talked about his courage, about Roy really being the heart and soul of the MDC opposition to Mugabe in Zimbabwe, and rejoiced when I learned he was released from the horrors of the Mutare prison — a prison that is known throughout Zimbabwe as Robert Mugabe’s torture prison. A place where if you are lucky enough to escape torture, you still have to fight off starvation because you are lucky to be fed once a week.
I met Roy Bennett in 2008. I was in Africa trying to help rid Zimbabwe of Robert Mugabe. I saw first hand the risk that Roy and others were taking to promote, through democratic means, new leadership and real change in Zimbabwe – waging a campaign against Robert Mugabe and the ruling Zanu-PF party. I saw the risk Morgan Tsvangirai was taking in having the guts to stand election and challenge Robert Mugabe with Roy’s help and the help of other brave Zimbabweans who were willing to make a stand for their country.
At least 110 of them are dead.