BY MIRIAM MANGWAYA THE European Union (EU) has urged the Zimbabwean government to desist from applying the law selectively following the continued incarceration of opposition MDC Alliance MP Joanah Mamombe (Harare West) and party member Cecilia Chimbiri. The pair has clocked more than 20 days at Chikurubi Maximum Security Prison in pre-trial incarceration after they were arrested for violating COVID-19 regulations. Mamombe and Chimbiri were denied bail by High Court judge Justice Tawanda Chitapi on Thursday. The EU said their continued incarceration was unconstitutional. “Joanah Mamombe and Cecilia Chimbiri have been denied bail again this week,” the EU in Zimbabwe said in a tweet on Saturday. “Their continued incarceration violates their rights, and illustrates what human rights defenders have described repeatedly as selective application of the law in Zimbabwe.” Justice Chitapi upheld Harare magistrate Vongai Guwuriro’s ruling that there were compelling reasons to deny the duo bail. He said it was in the interests of justice to deny them bail. Mamombe and Chimbiri, who are represented by lawyers Jeremiah Bamu and Charles Kwaramba of the Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights, were arrested on March 5, 2021 and charged with convening and partaking in a prohibited gathering, thus violating COVID-19 regulations. Several other human rights defenders have condemned government for using COVID-19 pandemic as  a weapon against activism and dissent.

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