ZIMBABWE COURT RULES AGAINST INTERNET SHUTDOWN

Africa

On Monday, Zimbabwe’s high court made a ruling against the internet shutdown. It ruled that State Security Minister Owen Ncube had no power to order the internet shutdown which took place during last week’s nationwide protests.

“It has become very clear that the minister had no authority to make that directive,” judge Owen Tagu said in a case brought by human rights lawyers and journalists.

The shutdown happened when security forces cracked down on protesters after a wave of anti-government demonstrations which turned violent.

David Halimana, the lawyer representing the complainants, said the ruling meant “mobile network operators are with immediate effect required to give full and unrestricted access of internet to all their subscribers”.

In terms of the law, Halimana said that only the state president has the authority to order an internet shutdown.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *