Harare - Evans Mawarire, a part-time Zimbabwe pastor who organised last week’s day long stayaway, was charged in the Harare magistrate’s court on Wednesday with attempting to overthrow President Robert Mugabe’s government.
The charges against Mawarire, who launched the #ThisFlag social media campaign in April, are so serious lawyers question whether he will be granted bail and said they feared that he could be in prison for a “long time”.
Hours after the normal court day ended on Tuesday, Harrison Nkomo, who is appearing for Mawarire continued to argue before magistrate, Vakai Chikwekwe, that the charges were different to those put to Mawarire when he was arrested at Harare Central Police Station on Tuesday.
Scores of supporters, wrapped in the Zimbabwe flag, chanted slogans, sang and prayed outside the shabby court house which was surrounded by police vehicles, a water cannon and many riot police and other security officials.
At first those in the packed courtroom laughed when the charges were put to Mawarire, but the atmosphere changed when they realised they were “so heavy,” as one lawyer later said.
Mawarire was arrested Tuesday after he went to the police to make a statement about how he organised a stayaway a week ago via his #This Flag site. He encouraged Zimbabweans to reclaim their flag and support a strike by many public servants who had not been paid their June pay cheques.
His messages, followed by many Zimbabweans across all levels of society, encouraged citizens to protest about 92-year-old Mugabe’s poor management of the battered economy where there is not enough cash in the banks for even poorly paid workers to withdraw their wages.
Zimbabwe uses US dollars since it abandoned its own currency in 2009 when it became worthless after years of hyperinflation and gross mismanagement of the economy by Mugabe and his government.
Many people answered Mawarire’s call on social media to stay away from work, or keep their children from school or refuse to sell goods in the streets. The pastor, who preaches non-violence, had called for another boycott on Wednesday and Thursday this week before his arrest.
Home Affairs Minister Ignatius Chombo told the press on Tuesday that anyone who took part in the planned two-day strike would face “the full wrath of the law. I urge members of the public to desist from engaging in illegal protests,” he said
The law under which Mawarire is charged states that any person who attempts to unconstitutionally coerce or use physical force or violence or threatened boycott, civil disobedience or resistance to any law which would be a threat to the government would be guilty of an offence with a maximum 20 year sentence with no option of a fine.
“The arrest of Pastor Evan Mawarire appears to be a well-calculated plan to intimidate him and other activists” Muleya Mwananyanda of Amnesty International said in a statement.”Instead of suppressing dissenting voices, Zimbabwean authorities should be listening to protesters.”
Amnesty said about 300 people had been arrested for participating in protests since they started last week.
Last week security forces used tear gas and water cannon to disperse protesters along the Harare commuter belt that erupted over police road blocks used to extort cash from motorists. A video of police torturing a woman by repeatedly beating the soles of her feet went viral earlier this week.
There have been several other protests against the government about the ban on imported goods as the economy continues to shrink.
Lawyers outside the courtroom on Wednesday said they believed that the charges against Mawarire were so serious that Zimbabwe Lawyers’ for Human Rights, who are defending him, will have to challenge the law in the Constitutional Court.
These veteran lawyers who have long fought Zimbabwe’s often partisan justice system say that the Harare magistrate’s court will be obliged to refer Mawarire’s case to the High Court for his appeal for bail.
“That means he is likely to be in prison for quite some time yet,” one said. “Let’s hope we are wrong.”
African News Agency