Four pro-democracy activists were charged in Zimbabwe on Thursday August 1 after being arrested and thrown off a plane the day before planned demonstrating in support of the jailed opposition leader Jameson Timba, their lawyers said. According to the Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights (ZLHR), the activists “were thrown off a plane by unidentified persons” at Harare airport, on their way to a citizens’ conference in the north-west of the country. Zimbabwe’s opposition has faced a wave of arrests since the disputed August 2023 elections, won by President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s ZANU-PF. Critics accuse the government of stifling dissent. In total, police have arrested 18 political activists, after warning it would crush opposition protests ahead of its hosting of a summit meeting of the southern African heads of state this month.

Source: The North Africa Journal August 03, 2024 16:32 UTC