From freedom to death

It was a spectacular bid for freedom - five soldiers of the Zimbabwe army's mounted unit, galloping to the South African border, abandoning horses, arms and uniforms, and crossing the border in search of a new life and freedom from repression and poverty.

But it was a bid that ended in failure - and the families of the five young men believe it may have also ended in death. Death by torture, at the hands of Mugabe's secret police.

The soldiers made their dash for freedom in Febuary but were picked up almost immediately by the South African authorities and returned to the Zimbabwe security forces, who incarcerated them in Harare's infamous Chikurubi high-security prison.

From March 9 to March 11 they are known to have been