Zimbabwe MP jailed for Christmas
Zimbabwe President and leader of the Zanu-PF party, Robert Mugabe, arrives at the party’s 12th National People’s Conference in Bulawayo, on December 8, 2011. The yearly conference of President Robert Mugabe’s party starts as he pushes for Zimbabwe to hold elections next year and to rally his divided ranks behind his campaign to defeat Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai.
It looks like it will be Christmas behind bars for Zimbabwean Member of Parliament Lynette Karenyi.
Karenyi was arrested Monday on charges that she said President Robert Mugabe is gay. Karenyi denied making the statement about Mugabe and she was granted bail of $200 but prosecutors invoked a law which suspends bail for seven days. She is to appear back in court on Dec. 28.
A spokesman for Karenyi's party, the Movement for Democratic Change, says the "trumped up charges" are politically motivated and an effort by Mugabe's Zanu-PF party to "decimate our party."
"It wants to push us out of the government. We have no problem with arrests, but when the law is selectively applied, there is a problem," said MDC spokesman Douglas Mwonzora. "This unnecessarily strains relations in our government."
The Mugabe regime has used spurious charges to jail opposition members of parliament and other critics.