A group of 46 Zimbabwean pro-democracy activists faced charges of treason Wednesday after police raided a meeting where they had been watching copies of news footage of the uprisings in Tunisia and Egypt, dpa reported.
Senior officials of President Robert Mugabe's government have repeatedly warned that any attempt to unseat the country's 87-year- old leader by similar means will be crushed.
The group of lawyers, students and trade unionists, unkempt and unwashed after four days in police custody, appeared in the Harare magistrates' court Wednesday following their arrest.
State prosecutors suspect them of organizing an Egyptian-style removal of the government of Zimbabwe by unconstitutional means.
They were told they would be charged with treason, which carries the death penalty, or with attempting to subvert the government, for which the maximum penalty is 20 years imprisonment.
Shortly after their arrest, their lawyers said they had been invited to a meeting by outspoken former opposition lawmaker Munyaradzi Gwisai, the Zimbabwean representative of the International Socialist Organisation. They had watched videos of the protests and discussed the implications of the wave of popular sentiment sweeping North Africa.
Lawyer Alec Muchadehama said the group, comprising mostly young students, planned to deny the charges.
Mugabe has been in power for 31 years.
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