There is further evidence that the regime is now executing convicted prisoners by firing squad as well as by hanging. ZAPU (Patriotic Front) has reported that a resident of Zamora reserve was put before a firing squad in January 1979 for allegedly breaking curfew regulations. On 23 January a total of eight people were sentenced to death by a court martial in the Salisbury region for allegedly assisting and failing to report querillas. They were shot afterwards. (ZPV 3.2.79) These reported death sentences are in addition to the 25 cases referred to above. Given the regime's total clamp down on information from the martial law areas, it is impossible to assess the full extent of these summary trials and executions. What is particularly disturbing is that under the martial law regulations, members of private armies and foreign mercenaries serving in the regime's security forces, have been granted the same powers of arrest and detention as other members of the security forces (see FOCUS 19 p.9)
Issue 21 · article
FIRING SQUADS
Report on the use of firing squads for executions in Rhodesia.
