A Zimbabwean commuter will spend Christmas in jail for calling President Robert Mugabe “thick-headed”, the Herald newspaper reported on Wednesday.
Arnold Bunya (29) was arrested on December 1 after an argument with his brother on a bus during which he admonished his sibling by saying: “Do not be thick-headed like Mugabe.”
Bunya was warned by a member of the Central Intelligence Organisation travelling on the bus to stop insulting the veteran leader but persisted and was then taken to a police station where he was arrested.
A Harare court on Tuesday remanded Bunya in custody until December 28.
Zimbabwe’s strict Public Order and Security Act (Posa) makes it an offence to insult the head of state.
There are regular reports of people on buses being arrested for slandering Zimbabwe’s long-time president. Usually those found guilty receive light jail sentences, fines or are ordered to do community service. – AFP