Zimbabwe: Four activists arrested, thrown off plane

Four pro-democracy activists were charged in Zimbabwe on Thursday August 1 after being arrested and thrown off a plane the day before planned demonstrating in support of the jailed opposition leader Jameson Timba, their lawyers said.

The four activists are charged with disturbing the peace for demonstrating in July, while the leader of the main opposition party (Coalition for Change, CCC) Jameson Timba and dozens of others, were on trial for an “illegal meeting” held in June 2024 at his home near Harare.
According to the Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights (ZLHR), the activists “were thrown off a plane by unidentified persons” at Harare airport, on their way to a citizens’ conference in the north-west of the country.

Zimbabwe’s opposition has faced a wave of arrests since the disputed August 2023 elections, won by President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s ZANU-PF. Critics accuse the government of stifling dissent.

Among the activists arrested were former Harare opposition councillor Samuel Gwenzi, teacher union leader Robson Chere, who “has obviously been tortured and is in a lot of pain”, according to lawyers, and human rights activist Namatai Kwekweza, winner of the 2023 prize awarded by the pro-democracy Kofi Annan Foundation.

In total, police have arrested 18 political activists, after warning it would crush opposition protests ahead of its hosting of a summit meeting of the southern African heads of state this month.