Arrested in Zimbabwe

Arthur Mutambara, an opposition leader in Zimbabwe, was arrested yesterday at his home.

Mutambara’s crime was writing an essay in which he accused President Robert Mugabe’s ruling party (Zanu-PF) of running a “terror campaign” against political opponents.

You can read that essay – “A Shameful Betrayal of National Independence” – here. It was originally printed in April.

(The newspaper editor who published “A Shameful Betrayal” was arrested several weeks ago.)

Arthur Mutambara is supporting Mugabe’s opponent, Morgan Tsvangirai, in an upcoming runoff election that will determine the future of Zimbabwe.

The Big Think website uploaded a series of Mutambara interview clips six months ago. I blogged about one of them in February.

I’ve embedded another clip below. In this 4-minute piece, Mutambara – who holds an Oxford Ph.D. in robotics – describes his hope for Zimbabwe to become the “Singapore of Africa” in terms of economic prosperity.

But he details the grim realities of Zimbabwe that keep such a hope far distant.

UPDATE (06/03/08): Arthur Mutambara was released today on bail. The amount of bail was 20 billion Zimbabwe dollars... which is literally worth $34 in U.S. currency.