Three female members of Zimbabwe’s main opposition party have been arrested for allegedly lying about being tortured in custody.
The women arrested include a female Member of Parliament. They were first reported missing last month and then found by road side.
They were taken into custody in May for attending a protest during lockdown to agitate over the impact of the pandemic on citizens.
But the women claimed the state security personnel that took them into custody then abducted them, beat and sexually assaulted.
They also claimed to have also been subjected to drinking each other’s urine and had to be treated at the hospital.
UN officials condemned the reported ordeal and called for the prosecution of “the perpetrators of this outrageous crime”.
But the women have now been arrested for making claims of their ordeal which the state says were lies.
The opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) which the women belong to said in a tweet on Thursday that the three were re-arrested on Wednesday at the offices of their lawyers.
The party denounced the charges by the state relating “to an alleged fake abduction report”.
BREAKING: MDC trio Joanna Mamombe, Cecillia Chimbiri and Netsai Marova have been arrested at the offices of their lawyers. @PoliceZimbabwe had been following them under an nuclear surveillance. Charges relate to an alleged fake abduction report. pic.twitter.com/x9LGkabEKt
— MDC Alliance (@mdczimbabwe) June 10, 2020
Source: Africafeeds.com
