Zimbabwe court strikes out ban on protests

Zimbabwe: Zimbabwe's High Court in Harare on Wednesday struck down a two-week ban on public protests issued by the police, a ruling described as a brave decision by the court in the face of threats faced by the judiciary from President Robert Mugabe.

Deciding the case brought before it by political activists, Judge Priscilla Chigumba said the official police notice issued last week was invalid, and therefore suspended.

The recent protest was regarded as some of the worst public violence in two decades.

 

President Mugabe's opponents braced up in the last two months by rising public anger over economic situations in the country including severe cash shortages, high unemployment rate and delays in payment of public workers.

According to Tendai Biti, a lawyer and former finance minister who represented the four activists, said the police had no authority to issue such notice adding that they had violated the constitution by doing so.

After the ruling, Biti told reporters that Chigumba had issued "a brave judgment that asserts the independence of the courts."