Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe. (AFP)
Chenjerai Pamhiri (38), a lecturer at Great Zimbabwe State University in Masvingo city, was convicted and jailed on Friday by a magistrate, Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights said on Saturday.
Prosecutors alleged that Pamhiri, while doing his shopping at a local supermarket last week, shouted that Mugabe was "dirt which should be discarded, a rotten old donkey". He is also said to have urged people not to vote for him in elections expected sometime this year.
Police arrested him as he left the supermarket.
"We received the shocking news of the conviction and sentencing of Pamhiri and we have promptly moved in to assist him," Kumbirai Mafunda, spokesperson for the human rights lawyers, told Agence France-Presse.
"Our lawyers will file an appeal against the conviction and sentence, and make a separate application for bail pending appeal."
Sixty such cases since 2010
Arrests for slandering Zimbabwe's long-time president and breaching the strict public order law are common and those found guilty usually get away with light sentences, fines or are ordered to do community service.
Mafunda said rights lawyers have recorded over 60 such cases since 2010.
Former amaBhungane intern Owen Gagare and his editor Dumisani Muleya were released on May 8 following their arrest by the Zimbabwean police.
Gagare, and his Zimbabwe Independent editor Muleya, were released but the charges against them remain, and, if convicted, they face prison sentences of up to 20 years in jail for allegedly "publishing statements prejudicial to the state" in terms of Zimbabwe's Criminal Law (Codification and Reform) Act.
Gagare was the author of a story, published in the Zimbabwe Independent in April, which alleged that Zimbabwe's Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai had met with security chiefs ahead of the country's elections.
Tsvangirai, also the leader of the Movement for Democratic Change, reportedly wanted the military and police's assurance that transition of government would be without incident, in the event that the party wins the election. Gagare and Muleya's arrests were widely condemned.
AmaBhungane, the M&G Centre for Investigative Journalism, called for the charges against them to be dropped. In a statement on May 7, the centre said, "Arresting journalists for doing their work is in flagrant violation of press freedom, the public's right to know and fundamentally undermines the rule of law." – AFP