Zimbabwean journalists have roundly castigated the arrest of award-winning veteran investigative journalist and filmmaker Hopewell Chin’ono by ‘armed-to-teeth’ security agents on Monday.
In a statement, Foster Dongozi, the secretary general of the Zimbabwe Union of Journalists (ZUJ) said ‘acts of aggression against journalists such as Hopewell who engage in investigative journalism are a clear sign that he is being victimized for exposing corruption in government’.
Chin’ono was picked up Monday morning at his residence by state security agents.
According to Dongozi, Beatrice Mutetwa who is the legal representative for the revered journalist told ZUJ that about eight security details pounced on the residence of Chin’ono and handcuffed him before bundling him in a van.
“By 1500hrs, Mtetwa said it was not clear why Hopewell had been picked up. She said when they took him away they had told an employee that they were taking him to Highlands Police Station.
However he was taken to Harare Central Police Station where by late afternoon, he had not been formally charged,” said Dongozi.
The arrest of Chin’ono comes at a time when the police launched a blitzkrieg on opposition activists ahead of the envisaged July 31 protests against Zimbabwe President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s Zanu PF Government.
Earlier on Monday, Transform Zimbabwe leader Jacob Ngarivhume who has been on the front mobilising Zimbabweans to express their dissent by taking the streets.
Read full text of the ZUJ Statement below:
20 July 2020
ZUJ CONDEMNS ARREST OF JOURNALIST CHIN’ONO
The Zimbabwe Union of Journalists (ZUJ), would like to strongly condemn the arrest of journalist, Hopewell Chin’ono early today.
ZUJ Secretary General Foster Dongozi spoke to Hopewell’s lawyer Beatrice Mtetwa who revealed that the journalist was being detained at the Law and Order Section in Harare.
Mtetwa said at around 1100hrs about eight security details, ‘some of them armed to the teeth’ kicked in the glass door at Hopewell’s house and handcuffed him before bundling him into a van.
By 1500hrs, Mtetwa said it was not clear why Hopewell had been picked up. She said when they took him away they had told an employee that they were taking him to Highlands Police Station.
However he was taken to Harare Central Police Station where by late afternoon, he had not been formally charged.
The Zimbabwe Union of Journalists would like to strongly condemn the brazen attack of a journalist by the Zimbabwean government and its security forces.
Acts of aggression against journalists such as Hopewell who engage in investigative journalism are a clear sign that he is being victimized for exposing corruption in government.
We call on the government to immediately stop its unwarranted harassment of Hopewell.
In Solidarity,
FOSTER DONGOZI
SECRETARY GENERAL
Source: ZUJ Secretariat
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