Diplomats Warming to Job Sikhala after Geneva Speech
Job Sikhala said after they finished speaking at the Geneva Conference, the former Prime Minister of France, Manuel Valls, wanted to have a private chat with him about the human rights situation in Zimbabwe.
He said the diplomat was especially interested in knowing if it was true that Sikhala had spent 595 days in prison before even being tried in court.
Mr Valls couldn't wrap his head around how someone could be locked up for that long without even getting a fair trial.
It's crazy how human rights are a global issue now. When Sikhala shares his real story with the world, people are shocked and can't believe they're living in the same world.
He wrote on X (formerly Twitter):
“After the presentation of our speeches the former Prime Minister of France, Manuel Valls invited me for a tete-a-tete conversation on the human rights question in Zimbabwe and whether it is true that I suffered 595 days of pre-trial incarceration. He couldn't believe that in the world of today, a person can be thrown in prison for such a long time without being taken to trial.
“Issues of human rights are now a universal concern. When you tell the world undiluted truths of what happened to you, they get so surprised that they would not imagine that we are living in the same universe.”
Diplomats Warming to Job Sikhala after Geneva Speech
After the presentation of our speeches the former Prime Minister of France, Manuel Valls invited me for a tete-a-tete conversation on the human rights question in Zimbabwe and whether it is true that I suffered 595 days of pre-trial incarceration. He couldn't believe that in the… pic.twitter.com/jMcawvAg09
— HON Job Wiwa Sikhala (@JobSikhala1) May 17, 2024
Earlier, the longtime opposition leader had been invited for a meeting with the Secretary General of the Inter Parliamentary Union (IPU), Martin Chungong whom whom he met at the IPU Headquarters in Geneva.
The IPU Secretary General gave Sikhala the following message:
“Please tell the Members of Parliament in Zimbabwe under attack, from their government that I will stand with them to obtain justice from the unprocedural recalls and persecution they are going through.”
Sikhala adds that Mr Chungong told him how he stood with him during the period of his incarceration and how they sent Justice Abdool Rahim Khan of Botswana, to observe his trials in Zimbabwe and how the IPU division on Human Rights of Parliamentarians were on its way to dispatch an IPU delegation to visit him in prison.
Sikhala said:
It's not a lost cause.
The world is well informed about what is happening behind the curtains in Zimbabwe.
