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Zimbabwe Opposition Official Calls For International Sports Boycott


A senior official of the Morgan Tsvangirai faction of Zimbabwe's opposition Movement for Democratic Change who has accused Harare police of severely beating her while she was in custody in March, has called for the international sports community to isolate Zimbabwe until President Robert Mugabe's government reforms.

Sekai Holland, policy and research secretary of the Tsvangirai MDC faction, is married to an Australian and has been recovering there from the injuries she sustained while in police hands following an abortive March 11 prayer meeting in Harare.

She told reporter Marvellous Mhlanga-Nyahuye of VOA's Studio 7 For Zimbabwe that she opposes a scheduled September tour of Zimbabwe by Australia's cricket team because she fears for the safety of cricketers based on her own experience.

Holland has urged Cricket Australia to scrap the tour and has given an account of her beating while in police hands to Australian government officials.

She expressed optimism that Cricket Australia would call off the tour to exert pressure on the Mugabe government, as the Canberra government has urged it to do, even offering to pay a US$2 million fine to the International Cricket Council.

More reports from VOA's Studio Seven For Zimbabwe...

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