It was the first arrest made since Mugabe last month appointed a minister for cyber security, 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.
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.
Police picked up
25-year-old Martha O'Donovan on Friday morning in the capital, Harare, U.S.
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.
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