A Court has finally set free the couple from Beitbridge who got arrested last year in June for sharing a photoshopped nude picture of President Emmerson Mnangagwa on WhatsApp.
Remember Simbarashe Ncube (34) and his wife Sarudzayi Ambiri Jani (38) who were represented by lawyers from Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights were finally released after spending more than a year in remand prison while their trial failed to commence.
Magistrate Takudzwa Gwazemba, who was presiding over their case, set them free by removing them from remand as the state had failed to put them on trial some 17 months after they were arrested.
According to the court documents, Ncube and Jani were arrested in 2020 after a manhunt.
They were both charged for undermining the authority of or insulting the president in contravention of the Criminal Law Act and for contravening the Censorship and Entertainment Act, which criminalizes the production and publishing of certain material.
Ncube and Jani are reported to have shared a photoshopped nude picture of President Emmerson Mnangagwa wearing a Zanu PF scarf around his neck and a male organ covered by a mask.
The controversial picture was shared on a WhatsApp group for Ward 3 residents in Beitbridge where Chief Inspector Kenneth Mushongahande of the Zimbabwe Republic Police is also a member of the said group.
Inspector Mushongahande reported Ncube and Jani to the law enforcement agents who arrested them.
