Police arrest American national over tweet
THE Zimbabwe Republic Police (ZRP) yesterday pounced on an American citizen and arrested her on allegations of undermining authority of or insulting President Robert Mugabe through a message which she allegedly posted on social media.
The American national, Martha O’Donovan, who works for Magamba TV, was arrested during a dawn raid at her Harare residence where the law enforcement agents confiscated her electronic devices including a laptop and detained her at Harare Central Police Station’s CID Law and Order Section.
O’Donovan’s lawyer, Obey Shava from the Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights (ZLHR) confirmed the developments to NewsDay Weekender yesterday afternoon, saying his client was still waiting to be charged.
The ZRP officers claim O’Donovan posted a tweet on her profile during the recently held Shoko Festival, which referred to a certain goblin, whose wife and stepson imported a Rolls Royce vehicle.
“The police have not yet preferred a charge against her and we are still waiting for that to happen. It is correct they arrested my client over some tweets which she posted on her profile, but they have nothing to do with insulting the Head of State since they do not even mention his name,” Shava said.
“The police said they want to charge her for undermining authority of or insulting the President as defined in Section 33 of the Criminal Law (Codification and Reform) Act.”
According to the lawyer, officers who arrested O’Donovan, were armed with a search warrant, which had been granted on Thursday by Harare Magistrate Elisha Singano authorising the police to confiscate all her electronic devices as they reportedly carried out investigations.
BY CHARLES LAITON
