'Aim was to kill'

AN ASYLUM seeker deported by the British government has been beaten and tortured in Zimbabwe. Gerald Muketiwa, who supported the opposition Movement for Democratic Change, was deported from Britain on 16 December last year after his plea for asylum was turned down.

He warned that he would be tortured in Zimbabwe, but the British government deported him anyway. On arrival in Zimbabwe he was picked up at the airport by secret police and severely beaten. 'Their main aim was to kill him,' said an eyewitness report. He eventually escaped to a neighbouring country.