HARARE – Human rights lawyer Webster Jiti was detained on Friday while representing clients at the Harare Magistrates’ Court, prompting condemnation from the legal fraternity.

Police accused him of undermining their authority by making “noise in the corridors” but later released him without charge.

Jiti was in court to represent Takudzwa Ngadziore, leader of the Zimbabwe National Students Union (ZINASU), and Tapiwa Chiriga, who are accused of violating Covid-19 restrictions.

“I am yet to get the full details but the heavy-handedness on the part of the police is unwarranted,” said Wellington Magaya, president of the Law Society of Zimbabwe (LSZ).

He added: “A lawyer is an officer of the court and must never be arrested for doing their work. Lawyers must be allowed to operate independently and without interference. We are also tracking another matter in which a lawyer Tendekai Hove of Hove Legal Practice was arrested for acting on his client’s instructions.”

The Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights (ZLHR), whose attorneys are leading the charge against state-sponsored human rights violations, also criticized Jiti’s detention.

The group said, however, it was “relieved that our lawyer has now been released by the police without any charges preferred against him after he was arrested and detained for allegedly undermining police authority with claims that he had made noise in corridors at Harare Magistrates Court.”

Last year Advocate Thabani Mpofu, who represented opposition MDC Alliance leader Nelson Chamisa in his 2018 presidential election petition, was among a host of legal practitioners who were arrested and charged with defeating the ends of justice in a matter that was largely seen as political.

They are yet to stand trial. The Law Society of Zimbabwe condemned the arrests at the time, calling them an attack on the legal profession.

Meanwhile, Harare West legislator Joana Mamombe and fellow MDC Alliance activist Cecilia Chimbiri will remain in jail after High Court Judge Justice Tawanda Chitapi postponed ruling on their bail appeal to next Tuesday saying he was still writing the judgment.

The two have been in jail for close to two months following their arrest for allegedly breaching Covid-19 regulations after holding a press conference at the Harare Magisrates’ Court calling for the release of Makomborero Haruzivishe, who is serving a 14 months’ prison sentence for “inciting violence and resisting arrest.”