Leaders of the 31 July Movement have have vowed to stand by arrested journalist Hopewell Chin’ono who is set to appear in court today to answer contempt of court charges.
Chin’ono was picked by the police on Tuesday after he made a Twitter post that the state alleges impaired the image of the Chief Justice Luke Malaba.
Addressing journalists in Harare yesterday, spokesperson of the movement Job Sikhala said they were shocked that Chin’ono was arrested for expressing his personal views.
“We are shocked that the government would arrest Hopewell Chin’ono on the basis of his views that he has expressed on the standing of the judiciary at the present moment. Zimbabwe is one of the countries with a record of persecuting members of the press and Hopewell Chin’ono is one of them” said Sikhala
He said the movement is irritated by the weaponization of the law to fight those with different views from the regime.
“We are here to express our shock and outrage over the weaponization of the law to fight those people who are holding contrary views, who are asking the government to be accountable to citizens of this country. It is not criminal to hold different views from those that are being held by the government” he said.
Convener of the 31 July Movement, Jacob Ngarivhume condemned the arrest and lamented the state of prisons in the country.
“We condemn the arrest of Chin’ono, the last time that I was arrested I was with him I went through the paces and witnessed the conditions first hand at Chikurubi Maximum and Harare Remand Prisons. Those places are not meant for human habitable.
“As citizens we need to fight for citizens’ rights in this country. We have been speaking about corruption in this country and what government in the world would criminalise those who speak out against corruption.” said Ngarivhume.
Chin’ono is due to appear in court today with Sikhala and Ngarivhume expected to attend in solidarity with him.
In his Twitter post, Chin’ono claimed that Malaba was seen leaving the Harare Magistrates Court on the day he was denied bail on his initial arrest.
