10 November 2009
Maputo — A man was sent to the Maputo top security prison in late October for the crime of wearing a T-shirt bearing the portrait of Mozambican President Armando Guebuza, reports Tuesday's issue of the independent newssheet "Mediafax".
On 28 October, Romao Mazuze, accompanied by his wife, Idalina Ernesto, went to cast his vote in the Maputo neighbourhood of Malanga for the re-election of Guebuza in the Mozambican general elections. But he made the mistake of displaying his political sympathies through his clothing.
Ernesto later told "Mediafax" that neither she nor her husband were aware of the clause in the electoral law that forbids anyone from displaying propaganda material inside polling stations. Wearing T-shirts, caps or even badges announcing support for a particular party or candidate is strictly banned within polling station premises.
So the intelligent thing for the police, or polling station staff, to do was tell Mazuze to go home and change his shirt. Instead a zealous policeman outside the polling station arrested him, and sent him to a nearby police station.
At the police station, he was accused of "provoking an electoral disturbance" - quite impossible, since he was not even inside the polling station when the arrest took place.
He spent two days in the police cells, and was then transferred to the top security prison. The police thus announced that a man who made an unwise choice of T-shirt is as dangerous to society as murderers, rapists and other hardened criminals.
The commander at the police station advised Ernesto to go to the local court, where she found he had been transferred to the jail. She could not see him because it was not visiting day, and could only deliver some bread and soft drinks for him.
When she went back to the court, she was told she would have to pay 5,000 meticais (about 180 US dollars) in bail in order to secure her husband's release. Ernesto didn't have the money, and broke into tears. She then took the case to the Mozambican Human Rights League (LDH).
"Mediafax" went to the police station where Mazuze was originally incarcerated, and the duty officer, Francisco Capota, was shocked to find that Mazuze was still in jail.
He thought the correct procedure would have been to hold Mazuze until the end of voting. Even this is a ridiculous penalty for wearing a T-shirt, when common sense dictates that simply turning him away from the polling station would have solved the problem.
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