If there's any justice, the photo that ran on the front page of yesterday's New York Times will be used as evidence against Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe when he is finally put on trial in The Hague.

The four-column photo shows a crying 11-month-old boy. Because it is winter in Zimbabwe, he is dressed in a tiny blue romper suit. Below the knees, the boy is wearing what at first glance looks like a pair of ill-fitting white socks.

Tipped off by toes sticking out of an opening in the left one, a closer look reveals them to be a pair of tiny white casts.

Titled "Suffering Great and Small," the cutline reads: "An 11-month-old with broken legs found shelter in a church in Harare, Zimbabwe. His mother said youths with the governing party shattered his legs while trying to make her disclose the whereabouts of her husband, an opposition supporter."

Zimbabwe descended into hell a long time ago thanks to the madness of its ostensible "liberator" and his ruling party of thugs, goons and sadists known as ZANU-PF.

In the pantheon of living African despots, Mr. Mugabe has been first among equals for nearly 30 years. Once upon a time, he was even considered a hero because he helped pry the country, then known as Rhodesia, from under the oppressive lash of its apartheid-style government.

Few nations have had as precipitous an economic collapse after liberation from colonial rule as Zimbabwe.

Since the fall of the white minority government in 1980, the country has gone from being the breadbasket of southern Africa and one of the continent's biggest exporters of food to its most appalling failure.

Mr. Mugabe blames his country's troubles on a conspiracy by the former colonial powers incensed by his track record as a "liberator" and traitors at home he insists are nostalgic for white rule.

After faring badly in a recent election against an opposition party leader, Mr. Mugabe and his goons imposed a presidential runoff.

For several weeks leading up to today's election, the ZANU-PF have scoured the country for political opponents -- jailing some and killing others.

If he can't win fairly at the ballot box, Mr. Mugabe is content to "win" through intimidation and terror. He vowed to hold on to power, regardless of what the voters consider to be in their best interests.

Morgan Tsvangirai, the opposition leader, pulled out of the race several days ago, citing the danger to his supporters by Mr. Mugabe's thugs.

Since then, regional African leaders have called on Mr. Mugabe to cancel today's runoff, arguing that it is illegitimate even by the standards of quasi-democratic African states.

Former South African president Nelson Mandela said on Wednesday that the crisis represented "a tragic failure of leadership in Zimbabwe." Mr. Mugabe told Mr. Mandela and every other African leader who dared criticize him to mind their own business.

If ever an anti-apartheid-style protest movement needed to catch fire in the West, it is now. Mr. Mugabe is, arguably, as big a human-rights abuser as the regime he displaced in Rhodesia.

To that end, it is gratifying to see that Pittsburgh's City Council has declared today "Zimbabwe Freedom Day."

City Council member Patrick Dowd sponsored the proclamation presented earlier this week, expressing our solidarity with "those in Zimbabwe fighting peacefully for their freedom."

It is a thoughtful proclamation that honestly describes the deteriorating situation in Zimbabwe with urgency and compassion.

True, there isn't much the average Pittsburgher can do about Mr. Mugabe, beyond becoming aware of what's going in Zimbabwe. But Mr. Dowd and his colleagues should be congratulated for caring enough to make a gesture of solidarity.

One day, Robert Mugabe will be compelled to answer to an international tribunal for crimes against humanity. On that day, I hope the 11-month-old boy his goons tortured will be old enough to understand that justice has finally come.

It will also be satisfying to know that Pittsburgh, in its own small way, stood up when it mattered and identified with Zimbabweans in their hour of need.

Today's proclamation of "Zimbabwe Freedom Day" here is just the beginning. There are many dark days ahead, but victory is assured. Tyrants, no matter how long they're around, have a very short shelf life.