Otto Saki

Legal Advocate for the Dispossessed - standing up for human rights

Since organizing a boycott while following the death of a student protester, Otto Saki has defended human rights in Zimbabwe. He represents human rights activists: students, women, union members who face harassment, intimidation and arrest when they protest the government's growing repression. Despite police threats and intimidated judges, he also assists shantytown dwellers whose settlements are being bulldozed by the government, helping thousands of families apply to the High Court to prevent the demolitions and seek restitution.

And when he discovered hundreds of the families abandoned in a rural area without food or water, he alerted the international humanitarian community. "In the long run what we're doing now will prove vital, and sooner or later we'll be able to live in a country where we're free to express ourselves without fear," Saki says. "It's only a matter of time."

Standing up for the principles of the Universal Declaration
Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights protects "the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas" In addition, Article 20 affirms that "Everyone has the right to freedom of peaceful assembly and association."

Learn more:
>>Bio: Otto Saki
>>Zaire Lawyers for Human Rights

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