Zimbabwean diamond activist Farai Maguwu is due back in Harare High Court on Wednesday where his lawyers will appeal repeated refusals by a magistrate to release him from police custody pending trial.
Maguwu has been detained since early June on charges he published or communicated false reports prejudicial to the state in connection with the controversial Marange diamond field. His arrest came after he gave Kimberly Process monitor Abbey Chikane official documents said to detail human rights abuses in the Marange zone.
Amnesty international on Tuesday urged Harare to release Maguwu unconditionally.
“Farai Maguwu is being persecuted for carrying out his lawful work of monitoring and documenting alleged human rights violations by security forces at some of Zimbabwe’s richest diamond fields,” said Amnesty International Africa Director Erwin van der Borght.
“We consider Farai Maguwu a prisoner of conscience and call on the authorities to release him immediately and unconditionally," he said in a statement.
Attorney Tinoziva Bere said Maguwu, his client, remained in the Harare Remand Prison hospital where he was recovering from a recent operation to remove his tonsils and severe stomach pains.