DICTATORS

Mugabe's Torture Game

Zimbabwe thugs torturing opposition to prevent being prosecution.

How does one avoid being prosecuted for torture? Well, the obvious route is to not torture people. Zimbabwe dictator Robert Mugabe's henchmen, however, are trying the less intuitive path of abducting and torturing officials and activist in the opposition party, whose rise to power through elections threaten Mugabe's authoritarian government. According to The New York Times, Mugabe's thugs are afraid that if the country moves further towards democracy, they will be indicted for their violent ways. As a result, they're hoping to extract dubious confessions of planning a coup from opposition leaders who might run the next government, hoping they can later use their words as leverage to get amnesty for their life of crime.