Pastor Evan Mawarire was arrested last year for allegedly trying
to topple Mugabe's government
He was acquitted of all charges and fled to the United States
#ThisFlag campaign supporters prayed at Harare magistrate's
court where Pastor Evan Mawarire appeared on charges of
inciting public violence last summer.
Zimbabwe police have arrested the pastor who fled the country last year after leading protests against President Robert Mugabe's government.
Pastor Evan Mawarire's #ThisFlag protest movement gained
momentum among Zimbabweans on social media last year after
he called on Mugabe's government to address a failing economy
and to respect human rights.
His attorney, Harrison Nkomo of Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human
Rights, told CNN his client was detained upon arrival in Harare on
Wednesday and charged with "subverting a constitutionally
elected government."
He added that Mawarire was acquitted of the same charges last
year and that they would fight these charges again.
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Mawarire spent six months in self-imposed exile in the United
States after first fleeing to South Africa following his arrest.
Human rights group Amnesty International Thursday called for his
immediate release.
"The authorities must immediately and unconditionally release
Pastor Evan Mawarire, as he is a prisoner of conscience
imprisoned solely for the peaceful exercise of his rights,"
Amnesty deputy regional director for South Africa Muleya
Mwananyanda said in a statement.
"It is designed to make him stop his human rights activism and
to punish him for speaking out about the declining human rights
situation in Zimbabwe," Muleya added.
Predicted re-arrest
Mawarire told CNN's David McKenzie last August he was afraid to
go back home.
"Because when you look at first and foremost the charges that
the State then brought against me... you start to see that the
agenda may be a little deeper than at least I expected. So the
fear of going back home is there because I fear a re-arrest, and...
I fear that somebody may attack me or somebody may want to
bring harm to myself or my family," he said.
Mawarire first became noticed in April of 2016 when he draped
himself in a Zimbabwean flag and railed against the government
in an online video. In the process, he started a movement,
#ThisFlag, hoping to end corruption and bring transparency and
accountability to the government and its long-running President.
Mawarire was detained July 12 for "inciting public violence," -- a
count that was subsequently amended to a much more serious
charge of subversion -- but was released the next day under
immense public pressure, when the court ruled the police had
violated his rights.
In the weeks after the pastor's first video, Zimbabwe saw rare
anti-government street protests and widespread strikes in the
form of so-called "stay-away days."
Mugabe called the pastor a fake, and said he was "foreign
sponsored."
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