For the third time since their June arrest, a Zimbabwean court on September 23 denied bail to opposition leader Jameson Timba and 64 of his supporters, amid a wave of arrests condemned by NGOs. Timba, who leads the main opposition coalition, the Citizens Coalition for Change (CCC), and his supporters were detained on June 16 at his home, in what rights groups have called a preemptive crackdown ahead of a Southern African Summit held the following month.
Although they were acquitted on September 4 of charges related to disturbing the peace, they still face accusations of participating in an unlawful assembly. The judge ruled on Monday that there were “no new circumstances justifying their release” from pre-trial detention. Timba and about 80 others were arrested in the lead-up to the July 17 Southern African Development Community (SADC) summit in Harare, where President Emmerson Mnangagwa of Zimbabwe began a one-year term as head of the 16-nation organization.
Human rights organizations, including Amnesty International, have reported that roughly 160 opposition supporters and activists were arrested before the summit, though several have since been released. A dozen individuals arrested alongside Timba were acquitted earlier this month. The CCC remains the primary opposition to Mnangagwa’s ZANU-PF, which has held power since Zimbabwe gained independence in 1980.