Court frees Zimbabwe MP, accused of faking abduction

HARARE: A Zimbabwe opposition lawmaker and two activists accused of faking their abduction and torture in May were on Friday freed on bail by a court, their party said.

Movement for Democratic Change Alliance (MDC-Alliance) member of parliament Joana Mamombe and party youth activists were early this month arrested at their lawyer’s offices. They had visited the lawyer to discuss another case in which they were charged for staging a protest last month.

The three women were admitted to hospital with various injuries after they were arrested in that case, and said they had been taken to a location out of town by unidentified men who allegedly beat them and sexually assaulted one of them.

The high court ordered them to pay ZW$10,000 (US$175), report three times a week to a police station and not to speak to the media or go on social media, the party spokeswoman Fadzai Mahere told journalists.