Veteran investigative journalist, Hopewell Chin’ono says he is happy to be on Twitter once again, this follows the deactivation of his account.
This was after his arrest on allegations that he used his Twitter account to incite public violence against President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s regime.
Shortly before his arrest the journalist tweeted that the law enforcement agents had made their way to his residence and were harassing his workers.
Shortly after his arrest, his account which wasn’t verified was taken down, and Twitter users going to the account were only met with a message reading, “This account doesn’t exist try searching for another”.
Since then, Chin’ono was not able to tweet, with some claiming that the journalist was banned on Twitter.
“So good to be back!
“Contrary to many misinformed narratives, I am not banned from twitter.
“My bail order bans me from talking about protests or violence on twitter.
“I never talked about that, so I am fine with it!
“It was twitter which was taking time to reactivate my account!”
Chin’ono is out of custody on bail, after he paid $10,000 Zimbabwean dollars bail (US$120).
The journalist’s bail conditions required him to surrender his passport, to report to the Highlands police station in Harare, the capital, every Monday and Friday, to reside at his given address in the city, and to surrender title deeds for a property he owns.
Chin’ono is also required to stop using his Twitter account to “incite the holding of mass demonstrations” while on bail, according to the bail documents.
However, he says he was not banned from using his Twitter account generally.
-Zwnews
