HARARE, Zimbabwe: Zimbabwe police have charged a United States citizen with subversion for allegedly insulting President Robert Mugabe on Twitter as a “sick man,” lawyers said Friday. The offense carries up to 20 years in prison.
It was the first arrest made since Mugabe last month appointed a minister for cybersecurity, the Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights said, a move criticized by activists as aimed at clamping down on social media users. Zimbabwe was shaken last year by the biggest anti-government protests in a decade.
Police picked up 25-year-old Martha O’Donovan on Friday morning in the capital, Harare, US Embassy spokesman David McGuire told The Associated Press.
Police accuse O’Donovan of tweeting “We are being led by a selfish and sick man,” from the Twitter handle @matigary, said her lawyer, Obey Shava with Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights. The tweet had a photo illustration of the 93-year-old Mugabe with a catheter, the charge sheet said.
O’Donovan has been charged with undermining the authority of or insulting the president, Shava said. She later said O’Donovan faced additional charges of subverting a constitutionally elected government.
“I deny the allegations leveled against me as baseless and malicious,” O’Donovan said in a signed statement shown to the AP.
O’Donovan had been working with local social media outlet Magamba TV, whose target audience is youth, Shava said. The outlet describes itself as producing “satirical comedy sensations.” O’Donovan, a graduate of New York University, has called herself a manager for Magamba TV and a “media activist.” Earlier this year, she presented a talk at a re:publica digital culture conference on “How Zimbabweans Rebel Online.”
Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights says it has represented nearly 200 people charged for allegedly insulting Mugabe, the world’s oldest head of state, in recent years. Frustration is growing in the once-prosperous southern African nation as the economy collapses and the president, in power since 1980, is already running for next year’s elections.
“This arrest marks the start of a sinister new chapter in the Zimbabwean government’s clampdown on freedom of speech, and the new battleground is social media,” said Amnesty International’s deputy regional director, Muleya Mwananyanda. The statement said Zimbabwe authorities tracked tweets to O’Donovan’s IP address.
“Concerned to hear of Martha O’Donovan’s arrest and ongoing detention. #Mugabe must stop arresting journalists #FreeMartha,” the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists tweeted Friday.
US woman arrested in Zimbabwe, accused of insulting Mugabe
US woman arrested in Zimbabwe, accused of insulting Mugabe
Nine Nigerian troops killed, several missing in jihadist ambush
- “We lost nine soldiers in an ambush by Daesh-WAP terrorists and many others are still missing,” a military officer said
- The soldiers dispersed in all directions following sustained gunfire from the militants
KANO, Nigeria: At least nine Nigerian soldiers were killed and over a dozen are missing after Daesh-aligned militants ambushed a military patrol in northeast Borno state, military and militia sources told AFP Tuesday.
Fighters from Daesh West Africa Province (Daesh-WAP) on Friday used explosives and guns to attack a column of more than 30 troops on foot patrol outside the town of Damask near the border with Niger, the sources said.
“We lost nine soldiers in an ambush by Daesh-WAP terrorists and many others are still missing,” a military officer said.
The soldiers, who were 25 kilometers (15 miles) from their base, dispersed in all directions following sustained gunfire from the militants, said the officer who asked not to be identified.
“The terrorists detonated an explosive device they had planted on the road in advance, increasing the casualties and confusion among the soldiers,” he said.
Eight soldiers managed to return to base while the rest remain missing, including their commander with the rank of a major, the officer said.
“A man who identified himself as an Daesh-WAP terrorist keeps answering the call to the commander’s mobile phone, suggesting he is in the hands of the terrorists,” he added.
Ya-Mulam Kadai, a spokesman for government-funded anti-militant militia assisting the military in Damask, gave the same casualty toll.
The nine bodies of the slain soldiers were recovered by a military search team deployed at the scene of the attack, he said.
The military did not respond to AFP’s request for comment.
The Nigerian military has in recent weeks intensified ground operations against Daesh-WAP, particularly in its Sambisa forest stronghold, with the military making regular claims of killing huge numbers of militant fighters.
Daesh-WAP and rival Boko Haram factions have been attacking military targets, raiding bases, laying ambush and planting explosives against patrols on highways.
Nigeria’s insurgency has killed more than 40,000 people and displaced around two million in the northeast since it erupted in 2009, according to the United Nations.
The conflict has spilled into neighboring Niger, Cameroon and Chad, leading the region to launch a military coalition to fight the militant groups.
