Renowned Zimbabwean author Tsitsi Dangarembga has been given a suspended sentence after being found guilty of inciting violence by organizing a peaceful protest for political reform.
Dangarembga and co-accused Julie Barnes were found guilty of attending a public meeting with intent to incite public violence in Harare Magistrates’ Court on Thursday. The pair were also fined 70,000 Zimbabwe dollars (£200) each.
A six-month prison sentence was suspended for the next five years on condition that the two do not commit a similar offense.
Dangarembga was arrested in July 2020 for holding a placard that read “We want better. Reform our institutions” during a peaceful protest. Human rights organizations such as Amnesty and the writers’ association PEN International had called for the charges to be dropped.
PEN fast condemned the conviction on Thursday, urging the Zimbabwean authorities to “respect their human rights obligations and refrain from prosecuting dissident voices.”
Judge Barbara Mateko said the state had proved beyond a reasonable doubt that the two staged a demonstration with intent to incite violence.
Award-winning Dangarembga protested the court’s decision and said she would appeal to the Supreme Court.
“We are in a situation where media freedom is not being promoted and those like me and Julie, my co-defendant, who want to promote media freedom have committed a crime,” said Booker Prize shortlist Dangarembga came in 2020, journalists told the court.
“This means that the space for free speech is shrinking and increasingly criminalized. However, we intend to appeal the conviction.”
She said freedom of expression is under siege in Zimbabwe.
“Our role as citizens becomes one that is not an active citizen but a subject. And as far as I know, we’re not a monarchy,” Dangarembga said.
The 63-year-old’s first novel, Nervous Conditions, won the African section of the 1989 Commonwealth Writers’ Prize. Her book This Mournable Body was nominated for a Booker Prize in 2020.
Dangarembga was arrested amid a widespread security crackdown on human rights defenders, which included the arrest of investigative journalist Hopewell Chin’ono.
On Twitter, Chin’ono described the judgment against Dangarembga as “one of the biggest mistakes ever committed [president Emmerson] They may not care about Mnangagwa’s repressive regime, but they will regret it. It has put Zimbabwe back in a great global spotlight, something Zimbabwe needed.”
Dangarembga is a harsh critic of President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s government, which has been accused of corruption and human rights abuses.
With Zimbabwe facing a crucial presidential election next year, there are growing fears that freedom of expression could be restricted.