{"id":106490,"date":"2025-03-27T12:17:40","date_gmt":"2025-03-27T10:17:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/free-blessed-mhlanga-now-human-rights-watch-tells-mnangagwa-government"},"modified":"2025-04-04T15:00:02","modified_gmt":"2025-04-04T13:00:02","slug":"free-blessed-mhlanga-now-human-rights-watch-tells-mnangagwa-government","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/free-blessed-mhlanga-now-human-rights-watch-tells-mnangagwa-government","title":{"rendered":"Free Blessed Mhlanga Now, Human Rights Watch Tells Mnangagwa Government"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"color: #ff6600\"><strong>Africa-Press &#8211; Zimbabwe. <\/strong><\/span>Human Rights Watch (HRW), an international non-governmental organisation dedicated to defending and promoting human rights worldwide, has called on Zimbabwean authorities to immediately release journalist Blessed Mhlanga and drop the charges against him.<\/p>\n<p>Mhlanga, a senior journalist for the independent media outlet Heart and Soul TV, has been in detention since his arrest in Harare on February 24, 2025.<\/p>\n<p>Mhlanga is charged with transmitting information that incites violence or causes damage to property under Section 164 of Zimbabwe\u2019s Criminal Law (Codification and Reform) Act.<\/p>\n<p>Idriss Ali Nassah, senior Africa researcher at Human Rights Watch, said on Wednesday, March 26, that the charges against Mhlanga are \u201cbaseless.\u201d Said Nassah:<\/p>\n<p>Zimbabwean authorities should immediately release the journalist Blessed Mhlanga and drop the charges against him for simply doing his job.<\/p>\n<p>These baseless charges are yet another stark reminder that the rights to freedom of expression and the media are under serious threat in Zimbabwe.<\/p>\n<p>The charges against Mhlanga relate to interviews he conducted in November 2024 and February 2025 with Blessed Geza, a war veteran and former ZANU PF member.<\/p>\n<p>During one interview, Geza called for the resignation of President Emmerson Mnangagwa, accusing him of nepotism, corruption, and incompetence.<\/p>\n<p>On February 28, a magistrate court denied Mhlanga bail, arguing that his release would cause national unrest and undermine peace and security.<\/p>\n<p>The High Court upheld the decision on March 21, leaving him in prolonged pretrial detention at Harare\u2019s maximum-security Chikurubi Prison.<\/p>\n<p>Zimbabwe\u2019s Constitution, along with two international treaties to which Zimbabwe is a party\u2014the African Charter on Human and Peoples\u2019 Rights and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR)\u2014protect the right to freedom of expression.<\/p>\n<p>HRW said targeting journalists and political opponents for peacefully exercising these rights undermines Zimbabwe\u2019s standing as a rights-respecting country. Said Nassah:<\/p>\n<p>The arrest and prolonged detention of Blessed Mhlanga sends a message to all journalists that their work makes them a target for mistreatment.<\/p>\n<p>The Mnangagwa government should respect basic rights and stop weaponizing the law and judicial system against journalists, human rights defenders, opposition politicians, and activists.<\/p>\n<p><strong>For More News And Analysis About <span style=\"color: #ff6600\">Zimbabwe<\/span> Follow <span style=\"color: #ff6600\">Africa-Press<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Africa-Press &#8211; Zimbabwe. Human Rights Watch (HRW), an international non-governmental organisation dedicated to defending and promoting human rights worldwide, has called on Zimbabwean authorities to immediately release journalist Blessed Mhlanga and drop the charges against him. Mhlanga, a senior journalist for the independent media outlet Heart and Soul TV, has been in detention since his [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":106489,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,12],"tags":[7387,18283,3064,19],"class_list":["post-106490","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-policy","tag-blessed-mhlanga","tag-hrw","tag-human-rights-watch","tag-zimbabwe"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.1 (Yoast SEO v27.0) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Free Blessed Mhlanga Now, Human Rights Watch Tells Mnangagwa Government - zimbabwe<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Human Rights Watch (HRW), an international non-governmental organisation dedicated to defending and promoting human righ ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/free-blessed-mhlanga-now-human-rights-watch-tells-mnangagwa-government\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Free Blessed Mhlanga Now, Human Rights Watch Tells Mnangagwa Government\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Human Rights Watch (HRW), an international non-governmental organisation dedicated to defending and promoting human righ ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/free-blessed-mhlanga-now-human-rights-watch-tells-mnangagwa-government\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"zimbabwe\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-03-27T10:17:40+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-04-04T13:00:02+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/sites\/14\/2025\/03\/sm_1743066546.367976.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"914\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"642\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/free-blessed-mhlanga-now-human-rights-watch-tells-mnangagwa-government#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/free-blessed-mhlanga-now-human-rights-watch-tells-mnangagwa-government\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"Free Blessed Mhlanga Now, Human Rights Watch Tells Mnangagwa Government\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-03-27T10:17:40+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-04-04T13:00:02+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/free-blessed-mhlanga-now-human-rights-watch-tells-mnangagwa-government\"},\"wordCount\":363,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/free-blessed-mhlanga-now-human-rights-watch-tells-mnangagwa-government#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/sites\/14\/2025\/03\/sm_1743066546.367976.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Blessed Mhlanga\",\"HRW\",\"Human Rights Watch\",\"Zimbabwe\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"policy\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/free-blessed-mhlanga-now-human-rights-watch-tells-mnangagwa-government#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/free-blessed-mhlanga-now-human-rights-watch-tells-mnangagwa-government\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/free-blessed-mhlanga-now-human-rights-watch-tells-mnangagwa-government\",\"name\":\"Free Blessed Mhlanga Now, Human Rights Watch Tells Mnangagwa Government - 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