Itai Dzamara's wife cries for help

After three days of strenuous denials by the government on the whereabouts and welfare of abducted political activist Itai Dzamara, speculation was rife yesterday that he was detained at a police station in Harare as his wife made a passionate plea for his abductors to release him.

But Charles Kwaramba of Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights, who is representing Dzamara, last night said that they had not found the maverick government critic when they went to Harare Central Police Station.

"I can confirm that we also received the tip-offs that Itai was being held at the Harare Central Police Station, but police told us he was not in their custody when we got there," he said.

His wife made an emotional plea to his abductors yesterday to release him, saying the couple's minor children were in distress and crying for their father to come back home.