ZIMBABWE – A husband and wife who were arrested last year for sharing a Photoshopped nude picture of Zimbabwe President Emmerson Mnangagwa have been set free.

Sarudzayi Ambiri Jani, 39, and Remember Simbarashe Ncube, 35, were arrested in June 2020 and charged with undermining the authority of, or insulting, the president.

The couple allegedly shared a nude picture of Mnangagwa wearing Zanu-PF regalia around his neck with a male organ adorned with a mask at its end on a WhatsApp group for residents in Ward 3, Beitbridge.

The couple, represented by lawyers from Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights (ZLHR), spent more than a year in remand prison while their trial failed to commence.

In a statement, the ZLHR said magistrate Takudzwa Gwazemba set Jani and Ncube free by removing them from remand as the state had failed to put them on trial some 17 months after they were arrested.

“The couple was arrested in June 2020 after they allegedly posted an image of President Mnangagwa in a nude state on a residents’ WhatsApp group.  However, magistrate Gwazemba recently removed Jani & Ncube from remand as the state had failed to put them on trial 17 months after they were arrested,” said ZLHR.