Doug Coltart, the lawyer to the notable Harvard-trained Zimbabwe journalist, Hopewell Chin‘ono, said that Zimbabwe Police has arrested his client for the third time in six months on the allegation of “communicating falsehoods”.
According to The Guardian news,
“The arrest comes after Chin‘ono tweeted that police had beaten an infant to death while enforcing Covid-19 lockdown rules this week. Police later said the information was false.
“Before the latest arrest, Chin‘ono was out on bail on separate charges of inciting violence after he voiced support for an anti-government protest in July and also on contempt of court charges for allegedly claiming corruption within the country’s national prosecution agency.
“Chin‘ono is one of Zimbabwe’s most prominent critics of president Emmerson Mnangagwa’s administration, accusing it of corruption and human rights abuses. The government denies the charges.
“Before he was arrested in July, Chin‘ono had published an expose on Twitter, in which he alleged corruption involving a $60m purchase of protective equipment for health workers.”