Zimbabwean Rights Activist Mukoko Freed

Tsvangirai last week told reporters he and Mugabe had agreed bail for detainees.

Leading Zimbabwean human rights campaigner Jestina Mukoko and several other activists have been released on bail, her lawyer said on Monday, in what appeared to be a major concession by President Robert Mugabe.

The release of all detained activists had been demanded by Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai, who joined a power-sharing government with Mugabe last month.

U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon and Western countries who hold the key to funding for reviving Zimbabwe's economy have also called for the release of detainees.

"She has been released on bail, but remains in hospital for ongoing medical examinations," Mukoko's lawyer Harrison Nkomo told Reuters. He said a total of sixteen activists had been freed on bail.

Most are members of Tsvangirai's Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), the main opposition to Mugabe.

In Washington, U.S. State Department spokesman Gordon Duguid called the release of any Zimbabwean political prisoner positive but said more needed to be set free. "There are more political prisoners who are still in jail, and they should be released without delay," he said.

Tsvangirai last week told reporters he and Mugabe had agreed bail for detainees.

The release of the activists could be a sign Mugabe may be trying to avoid confrontation with Tsvangirai in the early days of a unity government brokered by regional states.

Zimbabwean rights groups say MDC activists were tortured during detention.

The MDC has said it wants everyone detained on political charges freed, including Roy Bennett who was arrested three weeks ago just before he was to be sworn in as a junior minister in the new power-sharing government.

Bennett was granted bail by the High Court last Tuesday, but the state has appealed.