charges, among others.94 Those who dare to report their ED are often attacked and criminalized, and many leave the country95. was not tolerated and was often met with torturing and forcibly disappearing the opponents.96 • In Libya, people cannot peacefully exercise their rights for fear of being forcibly detained. • In Sudan, during the Al-Bashir era, political dissent Case study Movement for Democratic Change Case study Jestina Mukoko Jestina Mukoko, a Zimbabwean human rights activist and the director of the Zimbabwe Peace Project (a local human rights organisation involved in monitoring and documenting human rights violations in Zimbabwe), was forcibly disappeared on 3 December 2008.98 Plain clothes men entered her home, took her by force in front of her son, and pushed her into an unregistered car. Jestina was held incommunicado for three months, during which time she was subjected to various acts of torture. The Zimbabwe High Court ordered the Zimbabwe Republic Police to conduct an investigation and search for Jestina a week after her disappearance: however, this order was ignored by the police, who continued to deny any knowledge of her whereabouts. On 24 December 2008, it was reported by a State-run newspaper that Jestina had appeared before the Court of Harare on charges of attempting to recruit citizens for military training to try to overthrow the government. She was not given the opportunity to consult with a lawyer. It was only three months after her disappearance, in March 2009, that Jestina was released on bail. On 28 September 2009, the Zimbabwe Supreme Court dropped all the charges and issued a permanent stay of criminal proceedings against Jestina. In 2018, a Zimbabwean court ordered the government to pay 150,000 USD to Jestina for her abduction, incommunicado detention and the torture she suffered while forcibly disappeared. 94 UN HRC, Joint study on global practices in relation to secret detention in the context of countering terrorism of the Special Rapporteur on the Promotion of Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedom while Countering Terrorism, Martin Scheinin; the Special Rapporteur on Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, Manfred Nowak; the working group on Arbitrary detention represented by its vice-chair, Shaheen Sardar Ali; and the working group on enforced or involuntary disappearance represented by its chair, Jeremy Sarkin, A/ HRC/13/42, 20 May 2010, para.278. 95 ZLHR, On International Day of the Victims of Enforced Disappearances, end Pervasive Practice of Abductions and Enforced Disappearances, 30 August 2020. See also HRW, World Report 2021, Zimbabwe. 96 ACJPS, Baseline Study for Enforced Disappearance in Sudan, supra note 28. 97 Amnesty International, Zimbabwe: Further Information: Opposition activists rearrested: one charged, 21 August 2020; The Guardian, Zimbabwean MDC activists abducted and sexually assaulted by Jason Burke and Nyasha Chingono, 17 May 2020. 98 The Independent, Jestina Mukoko: 'Mugabe's henchmen came for me before dawn' by Daniel Howden, 17 January 2009; BBC News, Tortured Zimbabwe abductees may face prosecution by Shingai Nyoka, 19 May 2020. 23 © Reuters/Alamy Stock Photo In Zimbabwe, three female opposition leaders and members of Movement for Democratic Change, Joana Mamombe, Cecilia Chimbiri and Netsai Marova, were arrested on 13 May 2020 for leading a demonstration over the government’s provision of social protection during the Covid-19 lockdown.97 When they arrived at the police station, they were taken by unidentified individuals in an unmarked vehicle, and their whereabouts remained unknown for 48 hours. During this time, the police denied that the three individuals were being held in custody. On 15 May 2020, the women were found badly injured on a roadside 60 miles away from where they had been taken. The women reported that they had been beaten, tortured and sexually assaulted. Each of the women was hospitalized. However, instead of an investigation being launched, whilst the three women were in hospital, they were charged with gathering with intent to promote public violence and breach of the peace. Following this, they were charged with falsifying their own disappearances. The three women were taken to Chikurubi prison before they were eventually granted a strict bail requiring them to surrender their passports and report to the police three days a week. The trial against the three women commenced in late 2020 and is still ongoing for Cecilia Chimbiri and Netsai Marova (Joana Mamombe was deemed unfit to stand trial).To date, the authorities of Zimbabwe have not investigated the disappearance of the three women and the associated violations that they suffered.