It was reported in London on 4 September that four leading officials of the Roman Catholic Commission for Justice and Peace in Salisbury had been arrested by the Rhodesian police and were due to be charged under the Law and Order (Maintenance) Act and the Official Secrets Act. The officials are the chairman of the CCJP, John Deary, the organising secretary, Brother Arthur Dupuis, the press secretary, Sister Janice McLaughlin, and an executive member, Father Dieter Scholz. (In August Father Scholz was ordered to leave the country by mid-September.) Sister Janice was being held, following her arrest, in Chikurubi women's prison outside Salisbury, while the three men were released on bail.
The arrests coincide with the publication by the CCJP of a further report alleging the use of torture and atrocities by the Rhodesian security forces. The report, "Rhodesia: the propaganda war", claims that the army and police are "hated and feared by the people", and that reports of torture by troops "continue to be the rule rather than the exception".
