June 19, 2013

Zimbabwe rights lawyer bail appeal postponed

BY: AP Staff Writer MARCH 22, 2013
Leave a comment
Photo -   Human rights lawyer, Beatrice Mtetwa arrives at court in Harare, Tuesday, March 19, 2013. Police have charged Mtetwa for obstructing justice after ignoring a judge's order to release her a day earlier. Mtetwa was arrested Sunday while representing four opposition members of the prime minister's party while undergoing police searches. (AP Photo)
Human rights lawyer, Beatrice Mtetwa arrives at court in Harare, Tuesday, March 19, 2013. Police have charged Mtetwa for obstructing justice after ignoring a judge's order to release her a day earlier. Mtetwa was arrested Sunday while representing four opposition members of the prime minister's party while undergoing police searches. (AP Photo)

HARARE, Zimbabwe (AP) — A Zimbabwe court has postponed a bail appeal to release the nation's top rights lawyer Beatrice Mtetwa.

Mtetwa was arrested Sunday on allegations of obstructing justice and will spend eight nights in jail before she reappears in court on Monday.

High court judge Joseph Musakwa said Friday that state prosecutors need more time to go through Mtetwa's papers of appeal before proceeding with the hearing.

Mtetwa denies any wrongdoing and says she merely asked police officers to show her a search warrant during a raid on Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai's staff offices in Harare.

Obstructing justice carries a maximum sentence of two years' imprisonment.

Mtetwa holds an array of international awards and has represented Tsvangirai and several of his aides when they were prosecuted by the Mugabe government.

View article comments Leave a comment

More from washingtonexaminer.com

From the Weekly Standard

  • Frack to the Future

    Williston, N.D.

    Read More...
  • Downsize Ike

    The beleaguered Eisenhower Memorial Commission holds its next public gathering later this month, and before its members duck-walk into the hearing room, huddled in a hoplite phalanx against a...

    Read More...
  • The Lesson of Kermit Gosnell

    What was the lesson of the Kermit Gosnell trial? Since the Philadelphia doctor was convicted last month of murdering three born-alive infants, two competing viewpoints have emerged.

    Read More...