https://www.polity.org.za
Deepening Democracy through Access to Information
Home / News / All News RSS ← Back
Close

Email this article

separate emails by commas, maximum limit of 4 addresses

Sponsored by

Close

Article Enquiry

American journo faces Zimbabwe jail term on subversion charges

Close

Embed Video

American journo faces Zimbabwe jail term on subversion charges

Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe
Photo by Reuters
Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe

6th November 2017

By: African News Agency

SAVE THIS ARTICLE      EMAIL THIS ARTICLE

Font size: -+

The lawyer of an American journalist, who faces a possible jail term of 20 years in Zimbabwe on charges of alleged subversion and insulting 93-year-old President Robert Mugabe, is to apply for bail for his client on Monday.

Martha O‘Donovan, who works for Magamba TV, which describes itself as Zimbabwe’s leading producer of political satire, was arrested by police at her home in the early hours on Friday and charged.

Advertisement

Zimbabwe police accuse the journalist of calling Mugabe a “selfish and sick” man in a twitter post.

However, her lawyers argued before magistrate, Nomsa Sarabauta, on Saturday that their client was only informed of the more serious charge of subversion by police shortly after her arrest, thereby violating the constitution.

Advertisement

The police accuse O’Donovan of setting up the television station and using twitter “for the sole purpose of overthrowing the government through unconstitutional means”.

O’Donovan was refused bail and faces 11 days in jail until her next court appearance on November 15 – unless her lawyers today succeed in getting bail granted.

The American journalist has denied the charges, which come a month after Zimbabwe created the Ministry of Cyber Security in an attempt to monitor social media critical of Mugabe, who has been in power for 37 years.

EMAIL THIS ARTICLE      SAVE THIS ARTICLE

To subscribe email subscriptions@creamermedia.co.za or click here
To advertise email advertising@creamermedia.co.za or click here

Comment Guidelines

About

Polity.org.za is a product of Creamer Media.
www.creamermedia.co.za

Other Creamer Media Products include:
Engineering News
Mining Weekly
Research Channel Africa

Read more

Subscriptions

We offer a variety of subscriptions to our Magazine, Website, PDF Reports and our photo library.

Subscriptions are available via the Creamer Media Store.

View store

Advertise

Advertising on Polity.org.za is an effective way to build and consolidate a company's profile among clients and prospective clients. Email advertising@creamermedia.co.za

View options
Free daily email newsletter Register Now