Zimbabwe: Opposition figure sentenced to nine months in prison

A prominent Zimbabwean opposition politician, Job Sikhala, has been fined and given a nine-month suspended prison sentence after being found guilty of publishing falsehoods on social media.

Harare magistrate Feresi Chakanyuka handed the sentence to the former Zengeza West legislator on condition that he does not commit a similar offence.

In response to the verdict, Sikhala’s lawyer Harrison Nkomo said his client should never have been charged in the first place under a law which the top court long ruled to be unconstitutional.

“We are going to file our appeal as a registration of our displeasure of the judgement, we disagree with it, it has no foundation, it is not sound, the law no longer exists, and it is wrong for a court to convict someone on law that no longer exists!

The 52-year-old Sikhala was convicted for this in January and handed a suspended sentence, which lawyers say meant he can now be freed from the harsh and overcrowded Chikurubi maximum security prison.

The politician has just been released from almost two years of pre-trial detention on unrelated charges

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