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March 19th, 2012 
FAKE NEWS for the Zionist agenda Six Zimbabwean activists arrested a year ago at a meeting to discuss the Arab Spring uprisings risk up to 10 years in prison after they were convicted Monday of inciting public violence.
The six including Munyaradzi Gwisai, a former lawmaker from Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai‘s party, were among 45 activists arrested in February 2011 while watching a video of the protests that toppled Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak.
The meeting had aimed to discuss lessons to be drawn from the Arab Spring, but the participants were accused of scheming to overthrow long-ruling President Robert Mugabe.
“The accused are found guilty as charged,” magistrate Kudakwashe Jarabini said Monday. “From the evidence on record, the court is of the view that the state’s evidence is credible.”
Dozens of anti-riot police officers armed with batons guarded the entrance to the Harare magistrate court as the verdict was read out.
Hearings on sentencing are scheduled to begin Tuesday. The six face a sentence of up to 10 years in prison or a $2,000 (1,500-euro) fine, or both.
They had initially been charged with treason, but during the course of the court process, the charges were reduced. The other 39 people were cleared.
Gwisai told journalists outside court that the ruling was not “surprising.”
“We are not deterred, we are not intimidated,” he said.
“To the ordinary people, this is not surprising. This is a staple of what is happening in Africa and across the world. So we take it as it comes, the struggle continues,” he added.
University lecturer Gwisai had told the court during his trial that the charges were “meaningless,” “outright silly” and “a case of political harassment by the state.”
Tsvangirai’s Movement for Democratic Change, in a compromise power sharing arrangement with Mugabe’s ZANU-PF, condemned the guilty verdict as “another assault on democracy”.
“The MDC denounces today’s conviction of human rights activist Munyaradzi Gwisai and five others of conspiracy to commit crime by plotting to topple the government of Zimbabwe,” the party said.
“We totally condemn the persecution through prosecution of the six in the first place and their conviction today at the Harare Magistrates’ Courts is another assault on democracy and human rights.
“We find it strange and barbaric that they are convicted for watching video material that is already in the public domain and can be accessed by anyone from anywhere in the world,” the MDC added.
Mugabe and Tsvangirai formed a unity government three years ago in the wake of failed presidential elections that sparked nationwide attacks against Tsvangirai’s supporters, leaving more than 200 dead.
The power-sharing deal left Zimbabwe’s security forces firmly in Mugabe’s grip, and Tsvangirai supporters — including government ministers — remain the targets of arrests and intimidation.
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