A Court hearing in Zimbabwe has ruled that government exceeded its mandate in ordering an internet blackout during civilian protests last week.
This occurs as authorities pressed on with rounding up opposition figures blamed for the unrest.
Internet services were shut down because…
In his interim ruling, High Court Judge Owen Tagu told mobile operators to immediately and unconditionally resume full services to all subscribers.
The sporadic blackout, ordered by Security Minister Owen Ncube, began on Tuesday following the start of protests against a rise in fuel prices that turned violent.
With evidence growing that the country is slipping back into authoritarian rule, critics of President Emmeson Mnangagwa’s government had accused it of shutting off the internet to prevent a security clampdown being broadcast to the world.
On Monday police arrested Japhet Moyo, secretary general of the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions, which called for a stay-at-home strike last week in conjunction with the fuel protest.
He faced subversion charges, his lawyer said, while the organisation’s president was in hiding.