Renowned Zimbabwean author Tsitsi Dangarembga has been convicted of inciting violence after carrying a placard that called for political reform.
She paid a fine of about $110 to avoid serving a three-month jail term. She was convicted along with a friend Julie Barnes.
The two women had walked along a road in the capital, Harare, two years ago, holding placards which called for political reform and the release of two government critics.
The magistrate ruled that the protest the author participated in could have incited other people to join, and cause a breach of peace.
“Guilty of inciting public violence and breaching the peace,” the judgement read.
Tsitsi Dangarembga pleaded not guilty during the trial and expressed surprise at the conviction which she intends appealing against.
The magistrate said the pair protested on a public road, and pictures were shared on social media which could have provoked others to protest.
“The space for freedom of expression and freedom of the media is shrinking and increasingly criminalised” in Zimbabwe, she was quoted by the BBC as saying.
Critics say her prosecution is part of the latest sign of a government crackdown on dissent.
The conviction of Tsitsi Dangarembga @EfieZethu for holding a placard is one of the biggest blunders ever made by Mnangagwa’s repressive regime, they might not care, but they will regret it.
It has put a magnificent global spotlight back on Zimbabwe, something Zimbabwe needed! pic.twitter.com/Vm2J32KYfM
— Hopewell Chin’ono (@daddyhope) September 29, 2022
Ms Dangarembga is one of Zimbabwe’s famous authors with her novel, This Mournable Body, shortlisted for the Booker Prize, in 2020.
