F-B-F.org -

Ms Lees was composed and answered questions by Rex Wild, QC, for the prosecution, in a clear, firm voice. There was speculation that she may have killed Mr Falconio herself.Yesterday, at a committal hearing in Darwin, was her first opportunity to recount her version of events in court. Head held high, Joanne Lees swept into court yesterday and gave a long, hard stare at the man charged with killing her boyfriend, Peter Falconio. During her two hours of evidence, Bradley Murdoch never once looked up to meet her gaze.
The confrontation was Ms Lees’s first with Mr Murdoch since he was accused of murdering the British backpacker and trying to abduct her on an isolated highway in the Australian desert three years ago.She was vilified at the time for her cold demeanour and refusal to speak publicly about her ordeal. Zimbabwean officials said they were on their way to overthrow the government of Equatorial Guinea The men said they were going to guard a mine in the Congo.. The alleged mercernaries are mainly from South Africa.The lawyers have said that unless Mr Mbeki takes steps to save the men from certain death, they would take the South African leader to the High Court in Pretoria to try and secure his intervention.The men were arrested at Harare International Airport on 7 March. A spokesman, Paul Themba Nyathi, said elections “had become a major farce”.

But there was no consensus on whether to boycott polls.* South African President Thabo Mbeki has been given a 24-hour ultimatum to guarantee that 70 suspected mercenaries detained in Zimbabwe will not be extradited to Equatorial Guinea, where they face summary execution.Lawyers representing the men want Mr Mbeki to seek their extradition to South Africa, arguing that he has a constitutional responsibilty to help South African citizens arrested in countries where they have no chance of getting justice “even in its most elementary forms”. “These are not elections but pre-determined processes that the MDC is merely giving legitimacy by its participation,” Professor Madhuku said. “What they need to do now is to join us in the fight for a democratic constitution and an acceptable electoral framework before they contest these sham elections.”Elections in Zimbabwe are run by an electoral commission handpicked by Mr Mugabe and stuffed with army officers.The MDC is barred from state-run broadcasts and print media. Villagers were told they would not be eligible for famine relief if they did not vote for the ruling party. Mr Mugabe’s youth militia intimidated and assaulted voters and a journalist, Savious Kwinika, was left for dead.

But Zanu-PF said the victory was legitimate because Zimbabweans had now realised that the MDC was a “puppet” of Britain.The victory also underlined the “success” of the land reform programme under which thousands of white-owned farms had been redistributed to blacks, the party said.Professor Lovemore Madhuku, the leader of the largest civic group, the National Constitutional Assembly, said that the MDC’s strategy of contesting elections then crying foul after losing was senseless. They accused Mr Mugabe of bussing in people from neighbouring constituencies to vote.The MDC said opposition campaigners were abducted and tortured. His health had deteriorated rapidly since being tortured by Zanu-PF supporters in 2002. The ruling party lost the Lupane seat in the 2000 parliamentary elections by about 10,000 votes.Critics questioned how Mr Mugabe’s party could win the by-election when the situation in Zimbabwe had dramatically worsened since 2000, with inflation peaking at 600 per cent and people barely able to afford the basics.Independent Zimbabwean monitors said the election win could only have been achieved by the brazen rigging they had seen in Lupane.