Mr. Robert Mugabe has been president of Zimbabwe for well over 30 years now. Although the fight over his succession has been going on for a while (Mr. Mugabe is 93, a point when nature tends to take over), there is no apparent reason anyone of his regime is willing to accept even the slightest bit of criticism.
For this reason, just last month, Mr Mugabe appointed a special minister for cybersecurity.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">This is the tweet Martha got arrested for retweeting!👇🏿Let’s ALL retweet it - make it go viral! <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/ArrestUsAll?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#ArrestUsAll</a>! <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/FreeMartha?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#FreeMartha</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/FreeZimTwitter?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#FreeZimTwitter</a> <a href="https://t.co/SfPfBvPYOQ">https://t.co/SfPfBvPYOQ</a></p>— Doug Coltart (@DougColtart) <a href="https://twitter.com/DougColtart/status/926438750644731905?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 3, 2017</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
So when Ms Matha O’Donovan tweeted a picture of Mr Mugabe a few days ago, at his frail age seen with a catheter, with an accompanying text that said ‘we are being led by a selfish and sick man’, she broke the law in the eyes of the African regime, and the 25-year old was promptly arrested.
At least that is what the charge sheet for her arrest says. Some of Martha’s supporters, who are wanting this news to be spread under the hashtag #FreeMartha claim it is because of a text that read: Goblin gets ZRP to chase around street forex dealers, yet his step son & wife imported Rolls Royce Limos. The nonsense we Zimbos put up with.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">If <a href="https://twitter.com/Martha_ODonovan?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@Martha_ODonovan</a> is <a href="https://twitter.com/matigary?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@matigary</a> then she was tweeting from police custody, since they picked her up 10 hours ago, right? <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/FreeMartha?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#FreeMartha</a> <a href="https://t.co/fYxZRHBskm">pic.twitter.com/fYxZRHBskm</a></p>— Joe Black 🇿🇼 (@joeblackzw) <a href="https://twitter.com/joeblackzw/status/926456053855870976?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 3, 2017</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Miss O'Donovan is officially charged with ‘undermining the authority of or insulting the president’, and faces charges of subverting a constitutionally elected government.
She exclaimed: "I deny the allegations leveled against me as baseless and malicious."
The young graduate of New York University has called herself a "media activist." Earlier this year, she presented a talk at the republica digital culture conference on "How Zimbabweans Rebel Online."
According to Zimbabwean law, Miss O’Donovan risks 20 years imprisonment.
Jailed for a tweet. Man, some pop stars better start watching out.