A Zimbabwe court said on Wednesday it took a “compassionate approach” by not sending to jail six civic activists convicted of conspiring to commit public violence during a meeting in which they watched video footage of the mass uprisings in Egypt.
Harare magistrate Kudakwashe Jarabini fined the activists US$500 each and ordered them to carry out 420 hours of community service or face a year in jail. He suspended another 12 months imprisonment on condition they do not commit a similar offense over the next five years.
In an apparent bid to head off intense local and international outrage over the case — along with frequent accusations of bias by the nation’s courts in favor of Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe — Jarabini said he sought to pass a deterrent sentence, but did not want to send out “a sense of shock” to the public.
Photo: Reuters
The group was arrested last year for holding a meeting that it said was an academic lecture on democratic rights.
Jarabini found the activists guilty on Monday, saying that while watching a video was not a crime, the “manner and motive” of the meeting in February last year showed bad intent. He ruled that showing footage of uprisings in both Tunisia and Egypt that included “nasty scenarios” was intended to arouse hostility toward the Zimbabwean government.
The activists had faced a maximum prison sentence of up to 10 years. Original charges of treason carrying a possible death sentence were dropped in months of legal wrangling.
Jarabini said he took note that the activists were arrested before any violence had taken place. They had watched the North African footage at a time the nation’s political environment was “conducive to easily inciting a riot.”
Police had arrested 45 people who attended the meeting at a Harare hotel, but 39 were later released after judicial officials said police mounted a “dragnet” campaign against alleged participants.
Munyaradzi Gwisai, a law lecturer at the main Zimbabwe university who convened the meeting, said after receiving his sentence on Wednesday he was not cowed by the actions of authorities loyal to Mugabe.
“The dictatorship is shaken, but it has not yet fallen. The struggle will continue. It is a temporary reprieve,” he said. “The real reason they wanted to put us in jail is to set an example ahead of their agenda to steal elections.”
Though Mugabe entered in a power-sharing deal with Zimbabwean Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai after disputed, violence-plagued elections in 2008, Mugabe has said he has the power to unilaterally call elections this year to end the almost paralyzed coalition government.
Security authorities have said they will clamp down on any alleged plotters of “destabilization.”
Riot police dispersed scores of supporters chanting and singing outside the Harare courthouse after the sentence was handed down.
In a later statement, the Crisis Coalition of democracy and human rights activists described the case as a serious indictment of Zimbabwe’s judicial system.
At least 200 people died in election violence in 2008 with little action taken by police.
“Yet on political grounds, six individuals are found guilty of watching a video,” it said, adding that it was “mind boggling” state prosecutors had called for the maximum penalty of 10 years in prison.
Tsvangirai also said on Wednesday “laughable” actions by authorities hurt the nation’s image.
“The conviction is a grave assault on human rights” by the government, he said.
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