MUTARE police on Wednesday arrested and detained three political activists on various charges ahead of opposition parties’ planned demonstration scheduled for tomorrow.

BY KENNETH NYANGANI

MDC-T Manicaland youth chairman Itai Masaka was arrested for allegedly smuggling prohibited goods from neighbouring Mozambique, while Zimbabwe Activists Alliance leaders Lynette Mudehwe and Tapiwa Chitambo were picked up for allegedly distributing flyers for the demonstration aimed at denouncing police brutality.

Masaka is expected to appear in court today.

The three activists’ lawyer, Passmore Nyakureba, confirmed the arrests yesterday, describing them as politically motivated.

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“This has raised a stink. This is a political arrest since Masaka is the MDC-T youth chairman for Manicaland,’’ he said.

‘’They pounced on his vehicles spare parts shop where they found 40 bottles of soft drinks in his fridge from Mozambique before arresting him. His charge is of importing prohibited goods,’’ Nyakureba said.

He also said he was shocked with the arrests of Mudehwe and Chitambo.

“They handed the letter to the police on Monday with the intention to have a demonstration tomorrow (today). They were invited to Mutare Central Police Station for profiling and surprisingly on Wednesday, they were called again to be interviewed by the Law and Order section,’’ he said.

“They were profiled again by the Law and Order section in the morning and we were only told in the evening that they had been arrested for distributing flyers condemning police brutality and violations of human rights,’’ he said.

“They are being charged with violating section 31 of the Criminal Law (Codification and Reform) Act, they are denying the charges.’’ MDC-T provincial spokesperson Trevor Saruwaka also claimed that Masaka’s arrest was meant to derail the opposition party’s planned demonstration.

“His detention has nothing to do with those drinks, but everything to do with the poisoned political environment. It is not a coincidence that the police are busy breaching the constitution by denying the likes of Masaka and millions of people to demonstrate against President Robert Mugabe’s misrule’’ he said.

“Ordinarily such cases are settled through fines, but because Masaka is our youth chairperson they decided to detain him knowing fully that as the youth leader of the most popular party in the province, he is supposed to mobilise people ahead of our National Electoral Reform Agenda demonstrations slated for Saturday (tomorrow).’’