FIREBRAND journalist Hopewell Chin’ono has been picked up by the police again, this time for allegedly falsely claiming police in Harare had struck and killed an infant with a baton stick.
Chin’ono was picked from his Harare home by officers from the CID Law and Order division.
He wrote on his Twitter, “The police have come to arrest me! Let everyone know!
“They say they are charging me with communicating falsehoods for tweeting that a child had been beaten up and died by a police officer! They are taking me to the Law-and-order section at Harare Central Police Station.”
Chin’ono has had a troubled past few months when he was arrested twice for allegedly inciting public violence against government and later for alleged breach of his bail conditions relating to social media use.
He was released on bail in September after spending 45 days in prison on charges of inciting violence.
Justice Tawanda Chitapi – who granted him bail a month ago – ordered him to report to the Zimbabwe Republic Police twice a week and not to post messages on social media until the finalisation of his matter as part of his bail conditions.
The award-winning investigative scribe has however continued to unsettle authorities in the corridors of power through use of his Twitter account to spotlight on alleged acts of corruption and rights abuses by the Harare administration.
The latest arrest incident is linked to a video image that went viral on social media this week in which a woman carrying a baby is seen violently dragging a police officer with his uniform while remonstrating over an assault incident.
There were claims the police officer had struck the baby dead with the baton stick.
Police later dismissed the death reports although confirming their junior operative had struck the window of a commuter omnibus with a baton stick with the baby sustaining minor injuries from glass fragments.
The incident happened at a bus stop for Bindura bound transport in the Harare avenues area.