Is Zimbabwe criminalising dissent? – The Stream (WATCH)

The recent arrest and detention of three prominent critics of Zimbabwe’s government is again raising concerns over how laws are applied against voices of dissent.

Independent journalist Hopewell Chin’ono was taken into police custody on January 8 after he published social media posts about the alleged killing of a baby by a police officer in Harare. Police later said the baby was alive, but the true identity of its mother remains murky. Chin’ono faces charges of spreading ‘falsehoods’, and remains in Chikurubi prison after being denied bail.

Two senior members of Zimbabwe’s opposition Movement for Democratic Change Alliance (MDC) were later arrested on the same charge after they also published social media posts about the alleged police brutality incident. Job Sikhala is remanded in custody, while Fadzayi Mahere is out on bail.

Fadzayi MahereHopewell Chin'onoJob Sikhala
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  • Lilly Goshen

    Watch the space God will deal with these oppressors fighting for his children.He never spared the Egyptians they were all swallowed by the red sea.

  • GrumpyLoneWanderer💙

    Not much different to UK and US to be fair anything than contracts government gets removed

  • iQuant

    Yes it’s a dictatorship, a banana republic