“I died while I lived” is how Zimbabwean human rights activist Jestina Mukoko describes her twenty-one-day ordeal after she was violently abducted at her home outside Harare on 3 December 2008 by ten state security agents.

During her incarceration, many frightening theories sprung up. Some said her body was discovered on a roadside, while others thought she was thrown into a dam. Some even considered the idea of holding a memorial service for her after losing all hope of ever seeing her alive again.

Groans and cries
But in the meantime, Mukoko was being interrogated at a state security interrogation house. Mukoko is the director of the NGO Zimbabwe Peace Project (ZPP) which documents incidents of human rights abuses in Zimbabwe. She said she could hear depressing groans and cries of pain from other captives at the interrogation house. She said she never saw or knew about their circumstances.

“I felt very sorry for my fellow inmates, not because I was in a better off position. But I got worried that my family members and workmates could have been facing the same predicament somewhere else” recalls Mukoko.

Warning sign
“The night before my disappearance, my aged but caring mother had phoned me from another city to tell me that she had seen a snake with two heads in her garden that afternoon. She said she was worried that something bad was going to happen to the family and that we had to be vigilant. But I ignored her thinking it was another superstitious belief.” But then they came to arrest me. The security agents did not even give me time to change from my pyjamas. And all this drama happened right in front of my son.

But at that moment, Mukoko had no clue that her abduction had turned her into an instant international celebrity. Eventually, world leaders like Gordon Brown and Condolezza Rice demanded for her immediate release.

The Hague factor
But why was Mukoko arrested? When the leader of the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) and Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai, narrowly defeated President Robert Mugabe in the March 2008 elections, it was followed by a violent presidential run-off election in June of the same year. Many MDC supporters were tortured and killed in an onslaught led by ex-liberation fighters and youth militia. Mugabe’s armed forces were also suspected.

Mukoko’s ZPP comprehensively documented some of these beatings, rapes and murders. And such evidence was circulated all over the world on the internet. It was overwhelming and was believed to being sufficient to drag Mugabe and his entourage to the ICC in the Hague to answer to serious charges of crime against humanity.

Mukoko was arrested for allegedly being involved in plans for anti government demonstrations. She was accused of recruiting youths for military training with the MDC.

“I’m not bitter, but better”
In a conciliatory tone, Mukoko confesses: “After all this I am not bitter but better - even after those three precious weeks of my life were wasted for no apparent reason. It was an extremely traumatic experience to see strangers descend on my home and drag me away from my stunned family. I feel better because, despite torture and severe assault, I refused to relent to wild allegations that I was plotting to overthrow President Robert Mugabe’s government by recruiting, training and arming people in our neighbouring countries for that purpose.”

Mukoko, a devout Anglican, thanks God for being alive and for being able to be back doing her same work today, despite pressure from family to abandon it. She says she is filled with hope strength and forgiveness.