Johannesburg/Harare - Top Zimbabwean human rights activist Jestina Mukoko arrived Monday at the High Court in Harare together with several other activists.

They were in leg irons and handcuffs dressed in prison uniforms. One of the activists, a mother of a two-year old, was in leg irons, too, but wore no handcuffs.

The lawyers for Mukoko, 54, and several opposition members said last Friday they were "deeply disturbed" by the refusal of police to release their clients accused of recruiting for banditry to topple President Robert Mugabe's government, despite a court order to that effect.

Late last Wednesday, high court judge Yunus Omerjee ordered the immediate release of Mukoko and 31 opposition figures accused of plotting against Mugabe.

Mukoko, who heads a rights group which has been compiling information concerning incidents of violence in the June elections, was seized from her home just outside Harare on December 3 by armed men who identified themselves as police. Two colleagues of hers were seized a week later from their offices.

The Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) opposition party members were abducted on different occasions going back to October when the parents of a two-year-old child were seized.

Judge Omerjee had ordered Mukoko and eight other activists released to a clinic for medical treatment. They claimed they had been tortured while in detention.

They are to appear in court on Monday for a final decision on their detention and to face charges of recruiting people to undergo military training to "remove the present government."

The MDC has denied training for banditry. Its leader Morgan Tsvangirai has since threatened to pull out of the power-sharing deal he signed with Mugabe in September if the detainees are not released by year's end.

The deal followed hotly-disputed elections in June that were marred by more than 200 deaths, mainly of opposition supporters. (dpa)