21 March, 2012
All eyes are on the Rotten Row magistrates’ court in the Zimbabwe capital Harare today, 21 March, as six political activists will hear their sentences after being found guilty of “conspiring to commit public violence.”
The five men and one woman face up to a decade in jail simply for screening a video of the Arab Spring during an innocent academic meeting on 19 February 2011.
The repressive Mugabe regime is manipulating the judiciary to stamp out and persecute any opposition; in this case by sentencing activists, and in many other cases by indefinitely dragging out court cases based on fabricated charges.
The six Zimbabwean activists, Munyaradzi Gwisai, Tafadzwa Choto, Tatenda Mombeyarara, Edson Chakuma, Hopewell Gumbo, and Welcome Zimuto, face jail sentences of up to ten years. They confessed to plotting to overthrow the 88-year-old Mugabe, but these confessions were made while being tortured in custody. They were beaten with wooden planks.
The verdict was delivered on 20 March in a packed courtroom with riot police in position, after magistrate Kudakwashe Jarabini rejected the group’s claim that last year’s meeting had meant no harm to Mugabe’s regime.
“Watching a video like the one in question is not a crime. But the manner of watching had no good intention,” the court was told by magistrate Jarabini, a relative of President Mugabe.
They were arrested last year, together with 39 other people and initially were charged with treason, which carries the death penalty. But during the course of court proceedings, the charges were reduced and the other 39 people cleared.
Three of the six, Munyaradzi, Tafadzwa and Tatenda, work with the Zimbabwe Labour Centre a non-profit organisation that gives legal support to unions and workers on labour matters and provides educational programmes. Gwisai is a law lecturer at the University of Zimbabwe. Chakuma is a trade union leader.
The right to meet, discuss events in the world, share ideas and speak openly and freely is a basic human right for which activists should not be victimised and vilified.
Send your SMS text message "Do NOT send the 6 Harare activists to jail!" now to:
Police spokesman Wayne Bvudzijena + 263 712 801 172
Police Commissioner Augustine Chihuri + 263 712 808 290
Police Minister Kembo Mohadi +263 712 605 424
Security Minister Didymus Mutasa +263 0712 200 532