A Zimbabwean doctor whose alleged abduction led to days of protests has been freed, activists anunced on Friday, as government asserted he h simply been missing. disappearance h raised fresh concerns about dozens of abductions of government critics this year alone. president of Zimbabwe Hospital Doctors Association, Peter Magombeyi, was released overnight into custody of his lawyers, Zimbabwe Human Rights NGO Forum said. A police statement said he h “been found by police.”

re were immediate details of his condition, and Magombeyi was being treated at a hospital in capital, Harare. government’s information ministry said police efforts to debrief him were t working “as he prefers t to speak to authorities.”

Increased abduction in Zimbabwe

More than 50 government critics and activists have been abducted in Zimbabwe this year, at times tortured and warned by suspected state security nts to back off from anti-government actions. One woman was forced to drink raw sew, Human Rights Watch has said. Magombeyi’s case led to expressions of concern from diplomats and ors as some in Zimbabwe openly worried that government of President Emmerson Mnangagwa is becoming more repressive than that of longtime leer Robert Mugabe, who died earlier this month. Mugabe was accused of using abductions to silence critics, and some have never been found.

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Magombeyi was seized Saturday after calling for a pay strike as Zimbabwe’s health care system collapses along with sourn African nation’s ecomy. This week a growing number of health workers said y would t return to work until he was found, bringing many health care efforts to a halt.

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Third Force?

Many health workers say y can longer afford even commute to work as ir salaries are some $100 or less a month. Some Zimbabwean officials have blamed a “third force” linked to Mugabe for recent abductions, asserting that y are bid to tarnish president’s im abro and hurt efforts to have sanctions imposed by West removed. But country’s biggest representative organization for churches, Zimbabwe Council of Churches, has questioned “third force” explanation, asking why only perceived government critics are being targeted.

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