This is the post O'Donovan is accused of writing. It was shared under the Twitter handle @matigary. Photo / Twitter
This is the post O'Donovan is accused of writing. It was shared under the Twitter handle @matigary. Photo / Twitter
An American woman was unceremoniously thrown in jail in Zimbabwe on Saturday because police say she is behind a Twitter account which mocks the country's president even though someone else has taken credit for it and continues to goad the leader from it.
Martha O'Donovan, 25, was arrested on Fridaymorning at her home in Harare, Zimbabwe, by police who accused her of being behind a tweet posted by anonymous Twitter user @matigary on October 11.
The tweet labeled Mugabe, 93, a 'selfish and sick' man and suggested he was relying on a catheter, reports Daily Mail.
Police claim they traced its IP address to her home and they say she is behind the entire account despite the fact that it was still active on Saturday even after she was thrown in jail.
"LOL they think she is me," said one of the tweets. They also joked that they had tried to turn themselves in but that the authorities want to keep O'Donovan behind bars because she is foreign.
O'Donovan is a producer for the political satire TV network Magamba and who has studied human rights across Africa for years.
She is likely being held in one of two, notoriously grotty prisons - Chikurubi or Harare Central. Her representatives have not confirmed which but they plan to go to the high court on Monday to appeal her jailing.
Authorities in Zimbabwe said they traced the IP address of the October 11 post to O'Donovan's home and they believe she is behind it.
She is now charged with undermining or insulting the president and may face an additional charge of attempting to overthrow the government.
A judge dismissed her lawyers' motion to throw out the arrest warrant on Saturday and she was remanded in custody until November 15 when she will return to court for a bail hearing.
O'Donovan, a graduate of NYU, has been in Zimbabwe for the last year working for the local TV network Magamba and bar tending.
She went to Africa in 2013 to teach young local people how to become radio journalists as part of her NYU fellowship on human rights in Zambia, Zimbabwe and South Africa. Magamba TV, which she now works as a producer for, describes itself the home of "satirical comedy sensations".
As news of her arrest emerged on Friday, a #FreeMartha social media campaign calling for her release went viral.
The woman's family in her hometown of Martinsville, New Jersey, have not yet commented on her arrest.
Her arrest warrant states that on October 11, she, under the Twitter handle @matigary, tweeted: "We are being led by a sick and selfish man".
They also say she "founded" Magamba - the network which she works for - and allege that she may be trying to 'overthrow' the government through her work for it.
Magamba was founded in 2007, when she was 15, by Comrade Fatso & Outspoken, two African men and hip hop artists.
Police say she also retweeted one of @matigary's tweets on the Magamba Twitter account which referred to Mugabe as a "goblin".
It is not clear when she returned to Africa but Magamba said she has been working for them in Zimbabwe for around a year.
O'Donovan's case highlights the growing concern for human rights in Zimbabwe where hundreds have been prosecuted for appearing to undermine or insult Mugabe.
'This arrest marks the start of a sinister new chapter in the Zimbabwean government's clampdown on freedom of speech, and the new battleground is social media,' said Amnesty International's deputy regional director, Muleya Mwananyanda.
The TV network that she works for tweeted on Saturday: "It's not all about Martha, it's about every Zimbabwean. This is an attempt to silence our voice. Stifle freedom."
"Free Martha or arrest us all."
Martha, 25, is an NYU graduate and was raised in New Jersey. Photo / Facebook
Inside hellhole Zimbabwe prisons where Mugabe sends journalists
Martha O'Donovan is not the first journalist or American citizen to be held in Zimbabwe under charges against the president.
Mugabe and the country's police force has a long history of arresting journalists covering elections in the country or others who speak out against the government.
It was not immediately clear on Saturday where O'Donovan will be held until her bail hearing but it is likely she is being kept at Harare Central Prison, a notorious complex which is known for overcrowding and 'decrepit' conditions.
In 2008, New York Times journalist Barry Bearak described the conditions there after spending several days in a cell. He had been arrested for "committing journalism" by reporting on the country's elections without accreditation.
Afterwards, he described the "decrepit" cells which were without electricity and described as some of the "worst" in the country.
"The hallways were entirely desolate and silent but for the squeaking of our shoes and intermittent drips from exposed pipes.
"At such an ominous time, my senses felt eerily deprived, except for smell. With every step, the odor of the urine-soaked lockup grew a bit stronger," he said.
Others have described the dense overcrowding and harsh conditions inside.
In 2013, in an apparent show of transparency, the government invited local journalists to choose any of its prisons so that they could report on the conditions themselves.
