Pastor Evan Mawarire has been granted bail of $200 at the Harare Magistrates Court. Pastor Evan Was arrested on Monday after he addressed and prayed with medical students at the University of Zimbabwe who were protesting against an increase in fees. The students were later on all evicted from the university’s halls of residence for allegedly throwing stones. The police alleged that Pastor Evan had incited the students to be violent and to throw stones.
The police did not bring Pastor Evan to court yesterday which ensured that he spent two days locked up in the police cells. Mawarire was granted bail together with his driver Ocean Chihota. They are being represented by the Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights. The two have been ordered to surrender their passports and to report to CID every Friday. They have been remanded to the 19th of July. The pair have been charged with charged with public violence and disorderly conduct.
Senator David Coltart wrote on his Facebook page:
It remains an outrage that someone who was called to pray with and for medical students who had been evicted unlawfully from their residence, is treated in this way. Zimbabwe is a country where people who murder in broad daylight are never even arrested and often promoted, and yet non violent pastors who want to pray with the oppressed are locked up in stinking, freezing police cells for two nights.
I can of course guarantee that nothing will come of this “criminal” case against Pastor Evan – law is just used as a weapon in Zimbabwe, not an instrument of justice.
Dear Lord – hear our prayers and end this tyranny
This story is developing and will be updated when more information becomes available.
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