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Zimbabwe Film Shows Mugabe Election Rigging

Prison officer shot footage, passed it to Guardian

By Matt Cantor,  Newser Staff

Posted Jul 5, 2008 7:38 AM CDT
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(Newser) – Film shot secretly by a Zimbabwean prison guard shows how President Robert Mugabe’s party used intimidation to earn votes in last week's run-off election, the Guardian reports. In the footage, ruling party members watch as prison officials fill out their ballots and inspect the results. At a rally, party members are shown telling people to feign illiteracy so Mugabe supporters could fill out their ballots for them.

The guard, who has fled Zimbabwe with his familiy, said he was motivated to make the film by the intensifying violence directed toward the opposition, including the murder of an uncle. “I had never seen that kind of violence before,” said the filmmaker, Sheperd Yuda. “How can a government that claimed to be democratically elected kill its people, torture its people?" The film also shows an opposition party leader wearing leg irons in jail.

Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe at his inauguration ceremony at the state house in Harare, Sunday, June, 29, 2008.
Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe at his inauguration ceremony at the state house in Harare, Sunday, June, 29, 2008.   (AP Photo)
A man reads a copy of the state owned daily newspaper, 'The Herald,' a day after President Robert Mugabe was sworn in as president of Zimbabwe in Harare, Monday, June, 30, 2008.
A man reads a copy of the state owned daily newspaper, 'The Herald,' a day after President Robert Mugabe was sworn in as president of Zimbabwe in Harare, Monday, June, 30, 2008.   (AP Photo/Tsvangirayi Mukwazhi)
Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe, right, is seen at his inauguration ceremony in Harare, Sunday, June, 29, 2008.
Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe, right, is seen at his inauguration ceremony in Harare, Sunday, June, 29, 2008.   (AP Photo/Tsvangirayi Mukwazhi)
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Zimbabwe • Robert Mugabe • film • Zimbabwe elections • Zanu-PF • intimidation

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