By Own Correspondent| A suspected opposition party sympathizer was recently arrested upon arrival at the Robert Mugabe International Airport by security agencies.
According to sources privy to the matter, the victim Joshua Chimuti is thought to have unsuccessfully sought asylum in one of the European countries and is suspected by the dreaded Central Intelligence Organisations to be among a group of opposition party sympathizers who have been wedging a cyber-war with the ZANU PF administration.
“He was arrested upon disembarking from a plane as security authorities immediately seized him and interrogated him for several hours,” aid the source.
They then threatened to charge him with contravening sections of the Immigration Act after they accused him of allegedly leaving the country at an undesignated point of exit without proper documentation.
“He said they demanded to know who was funding him and the identities of other opposition party sympathizers based abroad who were being paid to demonize the country on the social media platforms”.
Said the source,” They then strongly warned him to desist from such behaviour is he was going to be under surveillance for 24 hours a day”.
Millions in Zimbabwe have turned to social media for news as the state continues its stranglehold on the media space.
Thus, the state apparatus has mainly targeted those who are perceived as hostile to the present administration on social media sites such as Facebook, WhatsApp and Twitter.
Recently, access to the internet and popular social media apps were intermittently blocked as the country’s largest telecom company, Econet, sends customers text messages relaying the government’s orders and calling the situation “beyond our reasonable control.”
President Mnangagwa’s government has taken giant steps to stifle the social media by drafting the Computer Crime and Cyber Crime Bills.
The proposed law would target Zimbabweans accused of abusing social media to instigate violence, banditry, sabotage and general instability in the country.
The main purpose of the Bill is to punish those behind computer and network-related crimes, said the government.