Posted on 11/13/2017 4:32:43 AM PST by simpson96
Martha O'Donovan, a 25-year-old American, is facing charges in Zimbabwe over allegations that she tweeted that the country's longtime, nonagenarian president is "selfish and sick."
O'Donovan, a New Jersey native who works for a satirical news organization, was released on $1,000 bail Friday after a judge found that there was a "patent absence of facts" in the government's case against her, Reuters reports.
She was arrested last Friday and had been held in a maximum-security prison until her release.(snip)
The tweet O'Donovan allegedly sent included a pair of images suggesting Mugabe was wearing a catheter during a public appearance. If convicted of subversion, she could face up to 20 years behind bars.
Amnesty International has called for the "absurd" charges against O'Donovan to be dropped immediately. "We fear she will not be the last to be swept up in the clampdown on social media platforms. We are calling on the Zimbabwean authorities to stop punishing people simply for exercising their freedom of expression. Social media users must not end up in jail simply for sharing their opinions."
(Excerpt) Read more at npr.org ...
No free speech in mr Obama’s brother’s country either.
Is there actually a right to freedom of expression there?
The moron probably thinks the first amendment applies to the world!
You wanted black marxist rule...you got black marxist rule.
-PJ
I wonder if her opinion of America will change as a result? One thing for sure, she will know better than to assume her rights to free speech extend beyond our borders. She also needs to learn that she needs to research what the laws are of the country she intends to visits. While these charges are absurd and the crime certainly does not fit the “crime”, she is learning a valuable lesson about realities. Hopefully she will not have to pay the steep price that is a real possibility. Time served and ban her from the country. I’m sure she will gladly accept that arrangement.
Which moron, Obama or Mugabe?
What free speech. If you think we have free speech in america you haven’t worked in education, both lower and higher education.
This is the prime example of a stupid American.
Seriously, how ignorant do you have to be to go into a foreign dictatorship and publicly bash its leader?
Yes Mugabe is a ruthless and bad man who destroyed the Breadbasket of Africa, but this isn’t a college campus, doofus.. this is a sovereign country, and as corrupt as that’s states government may be it holds complete authority over you while you are in its borders.
I blame the Brits for letting that happen. They abandoned the people who made that country great but for a fleeting moment. Cecil Rhodes is spinning in his grave.
Wow, someone from our country acts stupid overseas? Why am I not even surprised?
Since I am not involved in the field of education, and it has been decades since I even set foot in a school at any level, I have no first hand knowledge, but I am well aware of the problems with the educational system trying, and in far too many cases, successful in subverting 1st Amendment rights in schools.
Freedom of speech is also severely limited in the Armed Forces.
I was of course referring to the legality aspect. At least in most situations. Of course you need to watch what you say, otherwise, you might lose your job or it might prevent you from getting a job. But so far at any rate you are not thrown in jail.
But yes, freedom of speech along with other rights we have enjoyed since this countries creation are being seriously eroded. That is why we need to fight to preserve them.
My point is, that this young woman will now see what we conservatives are talking about, and will most likely become an ally. At least I hope so.
why is she in Z town anyhow??
And, the academic revolutionaries slithered back to the safety of their classrooms thereby escaping all accountability.
Mugabe is a small time offender of this.
Erdogan the Islamist dictator of Turkey (our NATO ally /sarcasm) has huge lists of those who criticize him on social media. There never has been freedom of speech or the press in Turkey. Not even back in the Ottoman Empire.
Huge numbers of civilians are in jail in Turkey for just being critical of Erdogan.
He even arrested Amnesty International’s officials in Turkey for attending a meeting discussing security of communications.
All Leftists should be required to live in ANY foreign country for a year.......they would then appreciate our wonderful country. My ultra-Leftist brother tried that ‘white privilige’ thing with me a few months ago. Nope. Can’t buy into that. The White ‘oppressors’ in Africa built a better continent......now it is riddled with violence and bloodshed. More’s the pity.
Hopefully we can keep it in place, though there is a rising tide of those who cannot see the value of this right, and that right along with several others are constantly under attack. We continually need to fight back to preserve it.
Absolutely.
We need to protect all the personal freedom that the founders cemented in our government structure.
And those they recognized as not coming from government but from God.
I have absolutely zero sympathy for this mindless moron.
If she did indeed break one of their laws that could net her 20 years in jail, then good, put her in prison.
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