Zimbabwean activist pastor Evan Mawarire was charged in
court on Thursday with subverting the government, punishable by up to 20 years
in jail, after violent protests this week that were met by a brutal crackdown
from security forces.
Mawarire was arrested on Wednesday and initially charged by
police with the lesser crime of inciting public violence after social media
posts encouraging Zimbabweans to heed a strike call by the biggest labour
union.
The charge sheet accused him of coercing workers to stay
away from work and encouraging civil disobedience.
Mawarire’s lawyer Beatrice Mtetwa denied that he had
incited violence. The court ordered Mawarire to remain in detention and adjourned the pretrial hearing
until Friday.
Authorities have said three people died during the
protests, which mostly took place in Zimbabwe’s two biggest cities, Harare and
Bulawayo. Rights groups say the toll was much higher.
President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s government decreed a
150%hike in fuel prices last weekend, which triggered the three-day strike,
during which protesters barricaded roads with rocks and burned tyres and looted
shops.
Two opposition legislators were charged with inciting
public violence in Gweru, 280km west of
Harare. They were denied bail and their trial will start on Friday, lawyers
said.
Reports said earlier seven Zanu-PF youth league members
also appeared in Harare Magistrate’s Court on Wednesday after allegedly
torching a bus during the demonstrations and looting a store.
Britain summoned Zimbabwe’s ambassador in London. Africa
minister Harriett Baldwin said Britain condemned the violent behaviour of some
protesters, but was “deeply concerned that Zimbabwe’s security forces have
acted disproportionately in response”.
Police rounded up 600 people this week in a crackdown on
protesters. A doctors’ group said 68 people had been treated for gunshot
wounds.
Lawyers from the Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights are
representing more than 130 people including Mawarire, who rose to prominence as
a critic of former strongman Robert Mugabe and led a national protest shutdown
in 2016. He was tried on similar charges in 2017 but acquitted for lack of
evidence.
Mnangagwa promised to repair the struggling economy after
replacing Mugabe in an election following a coup in November 2017, but Zimbabwe
has fallen back into familiar ways.
While some businesses reopened on Thursday after the
strike, new data showed inflation soared to a 10-year high of 42% in December,
even before the fuel price hike.
As dollar shortages batter the economy, rocketing inflation
is destroying the value of citizens’ savings.
The Zimbabwe Association of Doctors for Human Rights
(ZADHR) said its members had treated 172 people, some with dog bites, in
private and public hospitals since Monday, when the protests started.
“There are cases of patients who had chest trauma and
fractured limbs who were forcibly taken from hospital to attend court despite
the advice of doctors,” ZAHDR said in a statement.
Of the 68 people treated for gunshot wounds, 17 underwent
emergency surgery.
On Thursday, there were still long queues at the few
filling stations selling fuel, sometimes under the watchful eye of soldiers.
The few shops that were open were packed with people buying basics such as
sugar, flour and bread.
Media platforms including Whatsapp, Facebook and Twitter
remained blocked because of a government order, leading to accusations from
opposition figures that it wanted to prevent images of heavy-handed police
tactics being broadcast around the world. The US Embassy urged that access be
restored.
Reuters
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