Jan. 16, 2019

On January 14, 2018 Pastor Evan Mawarire - founder of #ThisFlag movement - posted a video online urging Zimbabweans to stay at home and act peacefully in protest of the Zimbabwean Government’s hiking of fuel prices, which at over US$3 per litre, are now the most expensive in the world. In his own words posted on his Twitter account on 15th January 2019 he said: “We must remain united and committed to non-violent peaceful protest…We must be heard and things must change. It is our constitutional right to hold government to account.”

The peaceful stay-in protest was organised in recognition of the fact that Zimbabwe, already one of the poorest countries in the world, would see an astronomical increase in the cost of living for ordinary Zimbabweans – especially the poor.

As a man of the Church, Pastor Evan Mawarire always preached peace and the hope for a better Zimbabwe. Over the last 24 hours there has been an internet blackout in Zimbabwe as we have received reports of alleged instigators of the protests being targeted and even harmed.

On the morning of Wednesday, January 16, Pastor Mawarire was picked up from his home by the Zimbabwean police, arrested and charged with inciting violence through social media. Pastor Mawarire is an alumnus of the 2018 Draper Hills Fellowship at Stanford University’s Center on Democracy, Development, and the Rule of Law (CDDRL). The Draper Hills Summer Fellowship Program trains and supports democracy advocates around the world and is composed of 350 lawyers, justices, journalists, activists and politicians from 82 countries. We, the faculty and fellows of the CDDRL Draper Hills Summer Fellows Program, strongly condemn this unjustified action by the Zimbabwean authorities. We call upon the Zimbabwean government to release Pastor Mawarire immediately and cease to target its citizens who are protesting peacefully in an effort to make ends meet. We further call upon governments and civil society organisations to stand in solidarity with Pastor Mawarire and the Zimbabwean people in their quest for a more just and equitable Zimbabwe.

CDDRL DRAPER HILLS SUMMER FELLOWS and FACULTY SIGNATURES:

Raheel Khursheed, Country Expert - India, Snap Inc.

Linda Kasonde, Lawyer, Zambia

Audrey Li, Journalist, China

Rahimah Abdulrahim, Chair, Institute for Democracy & Human Rights, The Habibie Center, Indonesia

Doris Rodriguez, Creative Activist, Stanford University B.S Candidate, Honduras

Julieta Herrero, Director, Government of Argentina

Rafolisy Patrick, Executive Director, Ivorary NGO, Madagascar

Givi Chanukvadze, Economic Portfolio Manager, UK FCO/DFID Good Governance Fund, Georgia

Dmytro Potekhin, CEO, FakesRadar.org, Ukraine

Ruth J Kissam, Director - Operations, PNG Tribal Foundation, Papua New Guinea

Abdel-Rahman El Mahdi, Managing Director, Sudanese Development Initiative, Khartoum - Sudan

Mohammed Nosseir, Egyptian liberal politician and writer

Olga Aivazovska, Civil Network OPORA, Ukraine

Gerhard Casper, Senior Fellow, President Emeritus, Stanford University

Ibrahima Amadou Niang, Political Scientist and Writer, Senegal

Francis Fukuyama, Mosbacher Director, Center on Democracy, Development and the Rule of Law, Stanford University.

Jovan Jovanovic, Member of Parliament - Republic of Serbia, President, Civic Platform

Sabah Hamamou, Journalist and Author, Egypt.

Rafiah Al Talei, Journalist and Human Rights Defender, Oman

Erik Jensen, Professor of the Practice, Stanford Law School; Faculty, Center on Democracy, Development and the Rule of Law

Clement Nwankwo, Policy and Legal Advocacy Centre, PLAC, Nigeria

Carolina Ricardo, Senior Advisor, Sou da Paz Institute, Brazil

Rueben Lifuka, Chapter President, Transparency International Zambia

Kasha Jacqueline Nabagesera, Executive Director Kuchu Times Media Group, Uganda

Sarina Beges-Thysen, Associate Director and Manager of Draper Hills Summer Fellows Program; Center on Democracy, Development, and the Rule of Law, Stanford University.

Hoi Trinh, Executive Director, VOICE, Vietnam.

Stanley Ibe, lawyer, Nigeria

Larry Diamond, Senior Fellow, Hoover Institution; Senior Fellow, Center on Democracy, Development & the Rule of Law, Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies; Stanford University

Leonardo Nogueira, Major Police Officer, Military Police of Rio de Janeiro State.

Eka Gigauri, Executive Director of Transparency International Georgia

Jose Luis Chicoma, Executive Director of Ethos Public Policy Lab, Mexico.

Dolphina Alego, Judicial Officer, Kenya.

Haykuhi Harutyunyan, Coordinator of the Eastern Partnership Civil Society Forum, WG1, "Protection of Rights without borders" NGO, Armenia

Nino Esakia, Government and Public Sector Leader, EY, Georgia

Artem Torchinskiy, Anti-Corruption Foundation, Russia

Jana Petaccia de Macedo, Public Policy Manager, Brazil

Djurdja Jovanovic Padejski, Stanford CDDRL, Communications Manager

Liliana Palihovici , “Institutum Virtutes Civilis” NGO, President, Moldova

Igor Rozkladai, Centre for Democracy and Rule of Law, Ukraine

Ebrahim Fakir, Director of Programmes, ASRI (Auwal Socio Economic Research Institute), South Africa

Lorena Vázquez-Ordaz, Country Director The Hunger Project  Mexico

Arseny Bobrovsky, blogger/journalist, Russia

Maria Baronova, Human Right activist/blogger, Russia

Joseph Ryarasa Nkurunziza, NeverAgain Rwanda, Rwanda

Aleś Łahviniec, Civic movement ‘Dzieja’, Belarus

Edmon Marukyan, MP Chairman of the Bright Armenia Party

Titus Gwemende , Southern Africa Regional Lead (Extractives), Oxfam International (Zimbabwean)

Belabbes Benkredda, Senior Research Scholar, Yale Law School

Hadeel AlQaq, Economic Development Consultant, Jordan

Carolyn Mercado, lawyer, Philippines

Nataliya Gumenyuk, Journalist, Head of Hromadske TV, Ukraine

Jason Hsu, Legislator, Co-Chair Human Rights Committee, Legislative Yuan, Taiwan

Salim Mohamed, Co-founder Carolina for Kibera Kenya

ElsaMarie D’Silva, Founder & CEO, Red Dot Foundation, India

Gladwell Otieno, Executive Director, Africa Centre for Open Governance Kenya

Zaceu Lian, Peace advocate in Myanmar/Burma, Myanmar Peace Process.

Anoop Ratnaker Rao, Founder, ReLife, India

Motunrayo Alaka, Centre Coordinator, Wole Soyinka Centre for Investigative Journalism, Nigeria

Sylvester Odion Akhaine, Chair, Board of Trustees, Centre for Constitutionalism and Demilitarisation, Nigeria.

Ivana Djuric, civil servant, Serbia

Charles Wanguhu, Activist, Kenya

Igor Belikov, senior governance consultant, Russia

Ashraf Aoudi, Co-Founder iWatch, Tunisia

Moussa Kondo, Country Director Accountability Lab, Mali

Anna Sevortian, Executive Director, EU-Russia Civil Society Forum

Maureen Susan Oduori, Democracy and Governance Programme Specialist, Kenya

Stephen Luby, Professor of Medicine, Stanford University, USA

Eka Kemularia, Green Line, Georgia

Mohammad N. Azizi, Chairman Afghanistan Telecom Authority