JUST IN: Sikhala bail hearing postponed

Movement for Democratic Change-Alliance deputy chairperson Job Sikhala will remain detained at Chikurubi Maximum Security Prison after Justice Tawanda Chitapi postponed hearing of his bail appeal to Wednesday.

Sikhala was back at Harare High Court this morning, after having applied for bail, but law officers from National Prosecuting Authority sought a postponement of the hearing, and Justice Chitapi postponed it.

Earlier, Sikhala’s lawyers had protested before Justice Chitapi why the legislator had been brought to court while shackled in leg irons.

Justice Chitapi asked Zimbabwe Prisons and Correctional Services (ZPCS) officials why was Sikhala shackled in leg irons while he is sitting in courtroom.

Justice Chitapi ordered ZPCS to ensure that in future Sikhala is not shackled in leg irons while in court.

Meanwhile, outside Courtroom A & inside prison holding cells, Sikhala told ZPCS officers who shackled him while in court & who are refusing to allow his lawyers permission to hand him food that by subjecting him to such ill-treatment they are trampling upon his civil liberties.

Sikhala was arrested for allegedly communicating falsehoods, but he says his arrest and incarceration is political persecution.

-Zwnews