Harare - Zimbabwe's Supreme Court yesterday threw out charges of terrorism against the opposition leader, Mr Morgan Tsvangirai, declaring that the law under which he had been charged was unconstitutional, his lawyer said.
"Tsvangirai won the case. I feel very happy for my client," his lawyer, Mr Innocent Chagonda, said.
The charges stem from a speech Mr Tsvangirai, leader of the main opposition Movement for Democratic Change made at a rally in September last year calling for the violent removal of President Robert Mugabe from power. Mr Tsvangirai was charged under the notorious Law and Order Maintenance Act which had been introduced by the regime of the former Rhodesian prime minister, Mr Ian Smith.
Mr Tsvangirai, Mr Mugabe's only serious challenger in presidential elections due next year, told the rally: "What we would like to tell Mugabe today is 'please go peacefully, and if you don't want to go peacefully we will remove you violently'."