Hillary Clinton Implores Zim Govt To Release All Political Prisoners
Former United States of America Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton, has urged the Zimbabwean government to release all political prisoners, including Godfrey Kurauone, a young opposition activist. She tweeted:
I’m calling for the government of Zimbabwe to release all political prisoners, including Godfrey Kurauone, who represent the country’s future. Justice demands it.
Kurauone is an MDC Alliance councillor in Masvingo town who was arrested last month for singing at a funeral and has been denied bail since.
Meanwhile, MDC-A national spokesperson Fadzayi Mahere has warned the country’s political elites and judges to avoid setting a dangerous precedent, saying one they could be at the receiving end of the unjust system they are creating. Mahere posted on Twitter:
As an officer of the court, it behoves me to say that we must be careful about setting dangerous precedents in our law.
Even the most powerful politicians and judicial officers aren’t immune from one day standing as accused persons and requiring the guarantees of a fair trial.
Zimbabwe’s judges have drawn global condemnation for their penchant for denying bail to prisoners of conscience and political prisoners, particularly Hopewell Chin’ono has been imprisoned for a whole month following his arrest for exposing high-level corruption.
On Tuesday, a Harare magistrate, Ngoni Nduna, barred prominent human rights lawyer Beatrice Mtetwa from representing Chin’ono on allegations of scandalising the judiciary system.
