{"id":78497,"date":"2023-06-01T20:20:00","date_gmt":"2023-06-01T18:20:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/very-sad-day-for-zimbabwe-says-thisflag-pastor-as-patriotic-bill-sails-through-parliament"},"modified":"2023-06-01T23:46:42","modified_gmt":"2023-06-01T21:46:42","slug":"very-sad-day-for-zimbabwe-says-thisflag-pastor-as-patriotic-bill-sails-through-parliament","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.cc\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/very-sad-day-for-zimbabwe-says-thisflag-pastor-as-patriotic-bill-sails-through-parliament","title":{"rendered":"Very sad day for Zimbabwe \u2013 says #ThisFlag pastor as Patriotic bill sails through Parliament"},"content":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Zimbabwe. <\/strong><\/span>By Anna Chibamu<\/b><\/p>\n

ZIMBABWEAN activist and #ThisFlag movement founder Evan Mawarire has condemned the Criminal Law Code Amendment Bill (Patriot Bill) describing it as \u2018draconian\u2019 after it sailed through Parliament, Wednesday.<\/p>\n

Parliamentarians voted 99 against and 17 votes in favour of the bill\u2019s clause which will criminalize private correspondence with foreign governments, false statements or any conduct aimed at undermining the country with violations punishable by up to 20 years imprisonment.<\/p>\n

Human rights lobby groups, activists and opposition parties have raised concerns the bill will muzzle freedom of speech if passed into law.<\/p>\n

Mawarire wrote: \u201cVery sad day for Zimbabwe. Parliament passed the draconian Patriot Act.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt criminalizes freedom of speech, freedom of association, and assembly and disallows Zimbabwe citizens from engaging foreign government officials. Zimbabwe has become far worse than any of us imagined.\u201d<\/p>\n

Citizens Coalition for Change (CCC) spokesperson and lawyer Fadzayi Mahere said under the \u2018dangerous\u2019 bill person can be sentenced to the death penalty which is in violation of the country\u2019s Constitution.<\/p>\n

\u201cDid you know? A person convicted under the \u2018Patriotic Bill\u2019 can potentially face the death sentence.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis violation of the right to life under Section 48 of the Constitution which says the death penalty can only be imposed for murder committed by men between 21-70 years,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

CCC Harare East MP Tendai Biti who debated against the passing of the bill expressed his disappointment over the passing of the draconian bill in Parliament.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was a day indeed as Parliament passed the Patriot Bill this evening.<\/p>\n

\u201cNew law is an unprecedented law that seeks to proscribe freedom of association, assembly, and speech of any citizen holding a meeting with a foreign government.<\/p>\n

\u201cNot even Apartheid Rhodesia passed such repugnant law,\u201d Biti said.<\/p>\n

The bill will amend the Criminal Law Code in four respects which are: to create the crime of \u201cwilfully damaging the sovereignty and national interest of Zimbabwe\u201d [the \u201cpatriot\u201d part of the bill] and provide mandatory minimum prison sentences for rape.<\/p>\n

The bill will also alter the definition of dangerous drugs whose possession, sale, and use which are prohibited by Chapter VII of the Code, and will narrow the scope of the crime of abuse of public office.<\/p>\n

For More News And Analysis About Zimbabwe<\/a> Follow Africa-Press<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Zimbabwe. By Anna Chibamu ZIMBABWEAN activist and #ThisFlag movement founder Evan Mawarire has condemned the Criminal Law Code Amendment Bill (Patriot Bill) describing it as \u2018draconian\u2019 after it sailed through Parliament, Wednesday. Parliamentarians voted 99 against and 17 votes in favour of the bill\u2019s clause which will criminalize private correspondence with foreign governments, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":78495,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,8,35,12,2715],"tags":[1493,2189,19],"class_list":{"0":"post-78497","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-all-news","8":"category-head-lines","9":"category-homepage-english","10":"category-policy","11":"category-to-homepage","12":"tag-africa-press","13":"tag-africa-press-zimbabwe-2","14":"tag-zimbabwe"},"yoast_head":"\nVery sad day for Zimbabwe \u2013 says #ThisFlag pastor as Patriotic bill sails through Parliament - zimbabwe<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"By Anna Chibamu ZIMBABWEAN activist and #ThisFlag movement founder Evan Mawarire has condemned the Criminal Law ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/very-sad-day-for-zimbabwe-says-thisflag-pastor-as-patriotic-bill-sails-through-parliament\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Very sad day for Zimbabwe \u2013 says #ThisFlag pastor as Patriotic bill sails through Parliament\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"By Anna Chibamu ZIMBABWEAN activist and #ThisFlag movement founder Evan Mawarire has condemned the Criminal Law ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/very-sad-day-for-zimbabwe-says-thisflag-pastor-as-patriotic-bill-sails-through-parliament\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"zimbabwe\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2023-06-01T18:20:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2023-06-01T21:46:42+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/sites\/14\/2023\/06\/sm_1685639621.838873.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"800\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"534\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/very-sad-day-for-zimbabwe-says-thisflag-pastor-as-patriotic-bill-sails-through-parliament\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/very-sad-day-for-zimbabwe-says-thisflag-pastor-as-patriotic-bill-sails-through-parliament\",\"name\":\"Very sad day for Zimbabwe \u2013 says #ThisFlag pastor as Patriotic bill sails through Parliament - 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