{"id":78513,"date":"2023-06-01T20:22:06","date_gmt":"2023-06-01T18:22:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/parliament-passes-a-bill-that-seeks-to-punish-unpatriotic-citizens"},"modified":"2023-06-01T23:50:17","modified_gmt":"2023-06-01T21:50:17","slug":"parliament-passes-a-bill-that-seeks-to-punish-unpatriotic-citizens","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.cc\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/parliament-passes-a-bill-that-seeks-to-punish-unpatriotic-citizens","title":{"rendered":"Parliament passes a Bill that seeks to punish ‘unpatriotic’ citizens"},"content":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Zimbabwe. <\/strong><\/span>Parliament has passed the Criminal Law Codification and Reform Amendment Bill (Criminal Code) which contains a clause that criminalises \u201cwilfully damaging the sovereignty and national interest of Zimbabwe.\u201d<\/p>\n

Often referred to as the Patriotic Act, the clause faced heavy objections and criticism from opposition legislators who said it perpetuates violation of freedom of expression and curtailer of media freedoms.<\/p>\n

On Tuesday, opposition MPs took turns to criticise the Bill during its Second Reading Stage.<\/p>\n

Warren Park MP Shakespear Hamauswa (CCC) said patriotism could not be legislated.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe need laws that will put back the powers to the people of Zimbabwe. We do not need any law that takes powers from the citizens of Zimbabwe. We do not need a law that will say if a Zimbabwean complains about mismanagement of resources, then that person is against Zimbabwe,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Citizens Coalition for Change spokesperson Fadzai Mahere described the development as a dark day for democracy.<\/p>\n

\u201cDark day for democracy – we are receiving a disturbing report from Parliament that the dangerous Patriotic Bill brought via an amendment to the Criminal Code has been passed,\u201d Mahere said on Twitter.<\/p>\n

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

Africa-Press – Zimbabwe. Parliament has passed the Criminal Law Codification and Reform Amendment Bill (Criminal Code) which contains a clause that criminalises \u201cwilfully damaging the sovereignty and national interest of Zimbabwe.\u201d Often referred to as the Patriotic Act, the clause faced heavy objections and criticism from opposition legislators who said it perpetuates violation of freedom […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":78512,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,12],"tags":[1493,2189,19],"class_list":{"0":"post-78513","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-all-news","8":"category-policy","9":"tag-africa-press","10":"tag-africa-press-zimbabwe-2","11":"tag-zimbabwe"},"yoast_head":"\nParliament passes a Bill that seeks to punish 'unpatriotic' citizens - zimbabwe<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Parliament has passed the Criminal Law Codification and Reform Amendment Bill (Criminal Code) which contains a clause th ...\" \/>\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\/parliament-passes-a-bill-that-seeks-to-punish-unpatriotic-citizens\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Parliament passes a Bill that seeks to punish 'unpatriotic' citizens\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Parliament has passed the Criminal Law Codification and Reform Amendment Bill (Criminal Code) which contains a clause th ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/parliament-passes-a-bill-that-seeks-to-punish-unpatriotic-citizens\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"zimbabwe\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2023-06-01T18:22:06+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2023-06-01T21:50:17+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/sites\/14\/2023\/06\/sm_1685639850.96189.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"720\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"405\" \/>\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=\"1 minute\" \/>\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\/parliament-passes-a-bill-that-seeks-to-punish-unpatriotic-citizens\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/parliament-passes-a-bill-that-seeks-to-punish-unpatriotic-citizens\",\"name\":\"Parliament passes a Bill that seeks to punish 'unpatriotic' citizens - 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