ZIMBABWE Independent editor Faith Zaba was arrested yesterday over an article that appeared in the weekly, sparking renewed concerns about Press freedom in the country.
Zaba is expected to appear in court this morning at 9am on a charge of “undermining the authority” of President Emmerson Mnangagwa.
“Senior journalist and Editor of Zimbabwe Independent, Faith Zaba, was arrested by the ZRP yesterday on allegations of undermining the authority of or insulting the President. The charge relates to a satirical Muckraker article published last Friday.
“After police recorded a warned and cautioned statement from Zaba, they insisted on detaining her overnight, pending a court appearance provisionally tomorrow,” her lawyer Chris Mhike said.
“We are deeply disappointed with the determination of the authorities to lock Zaba up, even in the face of medical confirmation of her current severe illness.”
Members of the Criminal Investigation Department (CID)’s Law and Order section yesterday twice went to the offices of Alpha Media Holdings (AMH), the publishers of the Zimbabwe Independent, but failed to locate her.
Zaba later surrendered herself to the police in the company of her lawyer Mhike and AMH legal representative, Tatenda Chikohora.
She becomes the second senior AMH journalist to be arrested this year after HStv head of news, Blessed Mhlanga, spent 72 days in pretrial detention before he was released on May 6.
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Mhlanga was arrested after HStv covered Press conferences addressed by expelled Zanu PF central committee member Blessed Geza, who was calling for Mnangagwa’s resignation for alleged corruption and nepotism.
Mnangagwa’s government has been accused of clamping down on dissenting voices with occasional arrests of government critics, who are often detained for long periods without trial, only to be acquitted by the courts.
The 82-year-old ruler, who rose to power eight years ago after a coup that toppled long-time ruler Robert Mugabe, promised to turn Zimbabwe “into a new kind of democracy”, but is now being said to be worse than his predecessor.
