Alternative Africa

Top Menu

  • Home
  • About Us
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of Use
  • Contact Us

Main Menu

  • Home
  • Arts & Culture
  • Business
  • Environment
  • Politics
  • Sports
  • Reports
    • Africa-Observers
      • Read Reports
      • Submit a story
  • MORE
    • Health
    • News Now
    • World
    • Technology
Sign in / Join

Login

Welcome! Login in to your account
Lost your password?

Lost Password

Back to login
  • Home
  • About Us
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of Use
  • Contact Us

logo

Alternative Africa

  • Home
  • Arts & Culture
  • Business
  • Environment
  • Politics
  • Sports
  • Reports
    • Africa-Observers
      • Read Reports
      • Submit a story
  • MORE
    • Health
    • News Now
    • World
    • Technology
  • Seven captured Nigerian school girls escape from abductors

  • Africa could expand economy by staggering $1.5 trillion with Artificial Intelligence

  • WHO-led consortium launches Covid-19-Oxygen Emergency Taskforce to address shortages

  • GIZ, Orange inaugurate third Digital Centre in Ethiopia

  • UNECA puts young African students on the path of Artificial intelligence technology

News Now
Home›News Now›For Tweet Mocking Mugabe, New Jersey Woman Could Face 20 Years in Prison

For Tweet Mocking Mugabe, New Jersey Woman Could Face 20 Years in Prison

By alternativeafrica
November 9, 2017
586
0
Share:

Advertisement

HARARE, Zimbabwe — A young American woman living in Zimbabwe will be tried on charges of attempting to overthrow the government of Zimbabwe with a tweet mocking President Robert Mugabe, the world’s oldest head of state.

The arrest of the woman, Martha O’Donovan, 25, has raised fears that the Zimbabwean government is stepping up efforts to control social media ahead of national elections in 2018. Mr. Mugabe, who will be 94 next year, is running for re-election despite his increasingly frail health.

Ms. O’Donovan was arrested on Friday at her home in Harare and charged with subverting the government and undermining the authority of — or insulting — the president. She faces up to 20 years in prison.

But on Thursday, a high court judge in Harare granted bail to Ms. O’Donovan and openly expressed skepticism of the charges against her.

The judge, Clement Phiri, said that Ms. O’Donovan had “showed that she has a plausible defense.” He added that “it appears, prima facie,” that there was no evidence of a plot “to overthrow the government.”

She has surrendered her passport and was ordered not to leave the country. A trial date has yet to be set.

Ms. O’Donovan, of Martinsville, N.J., is a 2014 graduate of New York University’s Gallatin School of Individualized Study and is a project coordinator for Magamba Network, which produces political satire and comedy. She lives in Harare, the Zimbabwean capital.

Prosecutors said that, starting in February, Ms. O’Donovan had “systematically sought to incite political unrest through the expansion, development and use of a sophisticated network of social media platforms as well as running some Twitter accounts.”

As evidence, they cited a tweet posted last month that read, “We are being led by a selfish & sick man,” and included a photograph of Mr. Mugabe with an illustration of a catheter. They say that Ms. O’Donovan had access to the anonymous account, with the handle @matigary, via her laptop computer, and that she used an anonymous web browser known as Onion Router.

Ms. O’Donovan’s goal, prosecutors charged, was to “replicate offline uprisings like what happened in Tunisia and Egypt” in 2011.

The @matigary account — which has accumulated a wide following, including among Zimbabwean journalists, for incisive posts about Mr. Mugabe’s government — has continued to tweet since Ms. O’Donovan’s arrest.

Obey Shava, who is representing Ms. O’Donovan and is a member of Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights, said he looked forward to the start of the trial. Asked how his client was doing, Mr. Shava said, “One cannot be entirely excited as her freedom is curtailed.’’

Ms. O’Donovan’s employer, Magamba Network, which focuses on youth culture and news, describes its vision as “a democratic and just Zimbabwe.” It is funded in part by the Omidyar Network, a foundation established by Pierre Omidyar, the eBay founder.

A social media campaign started by the organization under the hashtag #FreeMartha urges Zimbabweans to call for her release, and is being spread by local and international rights groups.

“Magamba itself has been targeted for the work that we do in new media, social media,” said Samm Farai Monro, one of Magamba’s leaders and a comic known as Comrade Fatso. He speculated that the government had targeted Martha “because she is white and American and so she is an easy scapegoat.”

David McGuire, a spokesman for the United States Embassy in Harare, said it was “monitoring Martha’s case very closely and our Consular Services team has been in frequent, direct contact with Martha since her arrest.”

The arrest came as Zimbabwe’s government, which last month established a cybersecurity ministry, is tightening its control over social media and its potential threat to Mr. Mugabe’s 37-year rule.

The government began a crackdown last year on activists who use WhatsApp and Facebook, leading to some of the biggest street protests in years.

The crackdown has helped keep the nation’s streets quiet this year. But as Mr. Mugabe prepares to run for another term, Ms. O’Donovan’s arrest indicates that the authorities are unlikely to tolerate even the slightest criticism of the aging leader.

Led by Mr. Mugabe’s wife, Grace Mugabe, the president’s closest allies have been closing ranks behind him. This week, they engineered the removal of one of the two vice presidents, Emmerson Mnangagwa, who was regarded as a strong contender to eventually succeed Mr. Mugabe.

In an apparent display of strength, Mr. Mugabe had the airport in Harare, the nation’s biggest, renamed for him on Thursday.

Mr. Mugabe, who helped lead Zimbabwe’s struggle for independence and has ruthlessly outmaneuvered every challenger ever since, has expressed growing frustration with the unpredictable power of social media. Last year, a previously obscure pastor, the Rev. Evan Mawarire, became a symbol of the grievances against Mr. Mugabe’s long rule after posting a video on Facebook. After briefly becoming Zimbabwe’s leading opposition figure, the pastor was driven out of the country and quickly lost his influence.

In September, government officials described social media as a security threat, after false rumors about shortages in the nation’s supermarkets caused panic buying and a spike in prices.

Mr. Mugabe’s longtime finance minister, Patrick Chinamasa, was appointed the new cybersecurity minister last month. It is not known where — or whether — the ministry has a physical office.

Correction: 

An earlier version of this article misidentified an anonymous web browser. It is Onion Router, not Orion.

Jeffrey Moyo reported from Harare, and Norimitsu Onishi from Johannesburg. Megan Specia contributed reporting from New York.

A version of this article appears in print on , on Page A6 of the New York edition with the headline: American Woman in Zimbabwe Faces Prison Over Tweet Mocking Mugabe. Order Reprints | Today’s Paper | Subscribe

Advertisement

  1. Trump Helps Reshape Courts at Fastest Pace in Five Decades

  2. Lessons From Hurricane Harvey: Houston’s Struggle Is America’s Tale

  3. Trump Says Putin ‘Means It’ About Not Meddling

  4. While in Air Force, Fear Gunman Could ‘Shoot Up the Place’

    Advertisement

SHARE ON:
TagsAfricaBreakingMugabe, RobertNewsO'Donovan, Martha (1992- )TwitterZimbabwe
Previous Article

Satellite image shows smog in India and ...

Next Article

A selection of the best photos from ...

0
Shares
  • 0
  • +
  • 0
  • 0
  • 0
  • 0

alternativeafrica

Related articles More from author

  • News Now

    “Im Scared For My Life, My Wife Torments Me” Zimbabwe VP Cries Out

    September 3, 2018
    By alternativeafrica
  • BusinessNews Now

    Chinese Consortium Begins 3050MW Mambilla Power Project Next Year

    September 7, 2018
    By alternativeafrica
  • BusinessNews Now

    Self-service car sharing comes to Morocco

    November 23, 2017
    By alternativeafrica
  • News Now

    Zannah Mustapha founded a school that teaches Boko Haram children

    September 24, 2017
    By alternativeafrica
  • News NowWorld

    China’s killer smog rolls in

    December 23, 2017
    By alternativeafrica
  • News Now

    Moustached monkey is separate species

    January 17, 2018
    By alternativeafrica

Leave a reply Cancel reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

You might be interested

  • HealthNews Now

    Congo: Latest outbreak more challenging than ever – WHO

  • News NowPoliticsWorld

    Violence rocks British election as Police warns MPs not to campaign alone over death threats

  • AfricaHealthNews Now

    African people have shown resourcefulness, agility amid covid-19 pandemic -Ramaphosa

Timeline

  • February 27, 2021

    Seven captured Nigerian school girls escape from abductors

  • February 27, 2021

    Africa could expand economy by staggering $1.5 trillion with Artificial Intelligence

  • February 27, 2021

    WHO-led consortium launches Covid-19-Oxygen Emergency Taskforce to address shortages

  • February 26, 2021

    GIZ, Orange inaugurate third Digital Centre in Ethiopia

  • February 26, 2021

    UNECA puts young African students on the path of Artificial intelligence technology

  • Popular

  • Comments

  • Lagos govt confirms first case of deadly coronavirus infection in Nigeria

    By alternativeafrica
    February 28, 2020
  • Keynote Address of President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo at 2018 Oxford Africa Conference

    By PSJ Africa
    May 14, 2018
  • Morocco begins regional integration by connecting Casablanca Airport with High Speed Train

    By alternativeafrica
    January 4, 2020
  • Kenyan govt pressure Facebook for data on Kenyan users

    By alternativeafrica
    November 20, 2019
  • Nigeria: 32,000 capacity Lagos rice mill to start production in 2020

    By alternativeafrica
    December 23, 2019
  • Ado zagi
    on
    January 12, 2021

    Nigeria: EFCC Academy to begin award of degree

    Diploma leave areply from
  • Ethiopia joins Africa's Artificial Intelligence revolution | Alternative Africa
    on
    October 2, 2020

    Spending on Artificial Intelligence Systems in Africa, Middle East to top $374 million in 2020

    […] Many African countries ...
  • The 5 most popular Africans 2020
    on
    September 25, 2020

    Celebrating Congolese doctor Jean-Jacques Muyembe, the man behind breakthrough of Ebola cure

    […] Dr. Jean-Jacques Muyembe ...
  • Millitants in Central Mali Set Jail Ablaze in Attack Killing Two | taktik(z) GDI (Government Defense ...
    on
    August 11, 2020

    Fifteen gendarmes killed in another attack on Mali camp

    […] attack fol­lowed a January ...
  • Millitants in Central Mali Set Jail Ablaze in Attack Killing Two
    on
    August 11, 2020

    Fifteen gendarmes killed in another attack on Mali camp

    […] attack followed a ...
AlternativeAfrica.com is an independent Pan African News Website dedicated primarily to influencing the negative narratives about Africa. We hope to do this by focusing and showcasing the many developmental strides sweeping across the continent.

Read more >>>

Contact Info

  • info@alternativeafrica.com
  • Recent

  • Popular

  • Comments

  • Seven captured Nigerian school girls escape from abductors

    By alternativeafrica
    February 27, 2021
  • Africa could expand economy by staggering $1.5 trillion with Artificial Intelligence

    By alternativeafrica
    February 27, 2021
  • WHO-led consortium launches Covid-19-Oxygen Emergency Taskforce to address shortages

    By alternativeafrica
    February 27, 2021
  • GIZ, Orange inaugurate third Digital Centre in Ethiopia

    By alternativeafrica
    February 26, 2021
  • Lagos govt confirms first case of deadly coronavirus infection in Nigeria

    By alternativeafrica
    February 28, 2020
  • Keynote Address of President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo at 2018 Oxford Africa Conference

    By PSJ Africa
    May 14, 2018
  • Macron in Ivory Coast to launch anti-terrorism academy

    By alternativeafrica
    December 21, 2019
  • Kenyan govt pressure Facebook for data on Kenyan users

    By alternativeafrica
    November 20, 2019
  • Ado zagi
    on
    January 12, 2021

    Nigeria: EFCC Academy to begin award of degree

    Diploma leave areply from
  • Ethiopia joins Africa's Artificial Intelligence revolution | Alternative Africa
    on
    October 2, 2020

    Spending on Artificial Intelligence Systems in Africa, Middle East to top $374 million in 2020

    […] Many African countries ...
  • The 5 most popular Africans 2020
    on
    September 25, 2020

    Celebrating Congolese doctor Jean-Jacques Muyembe, the man behind breakthrough of Ebola cure

    […] Dr. Jean-Jacques Muyembe ...
  • Millitants in Central Mali Set Jail Ablaze in Attack Killing Two | taktik(z) GDI (Government Defense ...
    on
    August 11, 2020

    Fifteen gendarmes killed in another attack on Mali camp

    […] attack fol­lowed a January ...

Photostream

    Follow us

    • Home
    • About Us
    • Privacy Policy
    • Terms of Use
    • Contact Us
    © Copyright Alternative Africa 2019. All rights reserved.