Tsitsi Dangarembga: Top Zimbabwe author has conviction overturned

Zimbabwe's High Court has overturned a conviction against critically acclaimed author Tsitsi Dangarembga.

Last year Ms Dangarembga was found guilty of inciting violence by carrying a placard calling for political reform, which a magistrate had said could have breached the peace.

She received a six-month suspended sentence and paid a fine.

It is not clear why the verdict has changed, but AFP reports that judges thought it was reached incorrectly.

Ms Dangarembga's lawyer also told the AFP news agency that "no offence was committed in the first place" by his client.

At the time, Ms Dangarembga pleaded not guilty in a trial that critics said was a sign of a government crackdown on dissent.

"The space for freedom of expression and freedom of the media is shrinking and increasingly criminalised," Ms Dangarembga told the BBC at the time.

When President Emmerson Mnangagwa took power in 2017, he vowed to introduce reforms after the decades-long repressive rule of his predecessor, Robert Mugabe, however critics say little has changed.

Just last week a prominent opposition MP was convicted of obstructing justice. Job Sikhala's guilty verdict bars him from contesting presidential and legislative elections due to be held in July or August. Critics say his trial was politically motivated.

Ms Dangarembga was convicted alongside her friend, Julie Barnes, who has also been acquitted, posting a photo of herself smiling outside the High Court alongside people who appear to be her lawyers.

Ms Dangarembga is one of Zimbabwe's most famous authors. Her novel, This Mournable Body, was shortlisted for the Booker Prize in 2020.