Civitellian Tsitsi Dangarembga (CRF 1999) has been arrested in Harare, in her home country of Zimbabwe “amid a sweeping crackdown by security agencies ahead of planned anti-corruption demonstrations.” Read more on her arrest and the state of the country in the Guardian, here, and see PEN America’s demand for her release, here.
Summer Lopez, PEN America’s senior director of free expression programs, stated, “Dangarembga’s arrest is part of a ruthless ongoing crackdown by Zimbabwe’s authorities against journalists, activists, and others attempting to call out the government for its failures and corruption…We call on Zimbabwean authorities to immediately and unconditionally release Dangarembga and all those who have been detained unjustly in recent weeks, and to ensure the Zimbabwean people’s right to free expression and association.”