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Zimbabwe Court Frees Journalist Charged With Obstructing Justice


FILE - Zimbabwe journalist Hopewell Chin’ono gets out of a prison van at the magistrates courts in Harare, Nov. 6, 2020.
FILE - Zimbabwe journalist Hopewell Chin’ono gets out of a prison van at the magistrates courts in Harare, Nov. 6, 2020.

Zimbabwean journalist and government critic Hopewell Chin'ono was freed on bail on Friday after being arrested two weeks ago on charges of obstructing justice.

Chin'ono's arrest and that of dozens of activists in the last four months has led to accusations that President Emmerson Mnangagwa's government was persecuting opponents, a charge the authorities deny.

Chin'ono, who has criticized the government on social media, was first arrested in July on charges of inciting violent anti-government protests.

He denies the separate charges and says the government is persecuting him for exposing corruption.

High Court Judge Tawanda Chitapi found on Friday that a lower court had erred in denying Chin'ono bail, but said the journalist should not use his Twitter account to post messages that obstructed justice.

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    Reuters

    Reuters is a news agency founded in 1851 and owned by the Thomson Reuters Corporation based in Toronto, Canada. One of the world's largest wire services, it provides financial news as well as international coverage in over 16 languages to more than 1000 newspapers and 750 broadcasters around the globe.

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