American arrested in Zimbabwe for insulting president on Twitter

A U.S. citizen has reportedly been arrested in Zimbabwe for insulting the country’s president on Twitter.

A spokesman for the U.S. Embassy told the Associated Press that 25-year-old Martha O’Donovan was arrested on Friday after posting tweets that allegedly insulted Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe.

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The Associated Press reported that O’Donovan is charged with undermining the authority of or insulting the president and subverting a constitutionally-elected government, which can carry a sentence of up to 20 years in prison.

She reportedly tweeted, “We are being led by a selfish and sick man,” leading to her arrest.

O’Donovan called the charges “baseless and malicious,” according to the AP.

O’Donovan, who works for Magamba TV, a local news network aimed at youth, is being represented by lawyer Obey Shava of Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights.

O’Donovan’s Twitter account is private, but an unverified account appearing to be MagambaTV tweeted news about her arrest.

Earlier today the police arrested @Martha_ODonovan for allegedly insulting the president on socia media.

— Magamba Tv (@MagambaTV) November 3, 2017

Shava told the AP that police claim that “tweets emanating from her IT address are insulting to the president.”

Zimbabwe’s Harare24 News reported that police had a warrant to search O’Donovan’s Harare home, where they arrested her and confiscated her laptop.

-Updated 12:52 p.m.