The Zimbabwean government has turned piecemeal repression of opposition activists into a campaign of full-scale systematic violence in recent weeks, taking advantage of the world's focus on the Iraq war.
Human rights organisations have documented a startling rise in attacks on supporters of the Movement for Democratic Change. In the past month, doctors have reported hundreds of patients seeking treatment for injuries they claim were sustained at the hands of state officials.
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The home of Margaret Kulinji, secretary of the MDC's women's league, was invaded by 16 soldiers in uniform at about 1am on March 22. Armed with AK-47 automatic rifles, truncheons and lengths of hosepipe, the men carried a list of MDC officials who were their targets. They beat Ms Kulinji with their fists and rifle butts, kicked her and whipped her with the cord of her iron. They also beat her mother.
"They forced my mother to open her legs and they abused her with the mouthpiece of the AK rifle," said Ms Kulinji, grimacing as she looked at her sleeping in the next hospital bed.
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Local campaigners say the army and police, working from lists of MDC members and officials, went from house to house, subjecting them and their families to savage beatings and torture. Often the squads had informers with them who pointed out the MDC supporters, they say.
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