Swiss tourist fined in Zimbabwe court for insulting Mugabe
Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe. File photo.
Image by: STRINGER / REUTERS
Image by: STRINGER / REUTERS
Zimbabwean court officials say a Swiss tourist has been fined $200 for insulting President Robert Mugabe.
Thomas Fischer from Altnau, Switzerland was convicted by a court in northwestern Zimbabwe for criticizing Mugabe in an argument with border officials at the lake resort town of Kariba.
Prosecutors alleged that during a delay in border formalities, Fischer said Mugabe "knew how to screw people, especially foreigners."
Insulting Mugabe is an offence under sweeping security laws and prosecutions are common.
Earlier this year, a Zimbabwean salesman spent two months in jail after being found with satirical cartoons depicting a naked, skeletal Mugabe on his mobile phone. A Zimbabwean carpenter was arrested in February after he questioned whether Mugabe still had the strength to blow up balloons at his 88th birthday.
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