HARARE – Human rights activist Makomborero Haruzivishe was detained on Saturday, it is reported after being summoned to the Robert Gabriel Mugabe International Airport by the facility’s unnamed “head of security”.

Haruzivishe is accused of taking a video inside the airport during a meeting with immigration officials a day earlier. In the video, a man thought to be the immigration boss, threatens to cause their arrest and orders them to “get out” of his office.

The MDC condemned his arrest, saying it had “nothing to do with prosecution but persecution.”

“The democratic space is closing, we are concerned by this relentless retrogression. We demand his immediate release and an end of politically motivated arrests,” MDC spokesman Jacob Mafume said.

Haruzivishe had gone to the airport on Friday to enquire about the fate of three Democratic Republic of Congo activists and an American national who were seized in a midnight raid on their Harare hotel.

Jean Felix Mwema, Apollinaire Dialungani and Valmy Mwite were deported on Friday afternoon, just as authorities handed Uzoamaka Okeke Ewo to the United States embassy with a prohibited person order. She left on her scheduled flight on Saturday.

Haruzivishe spoke at meetings organised by the Global Network for Youth Action alongside the quartet during the week.

Authorities have not said what laws were broken by the deported activists, who held discussions with their Zimbabwean counterparts about increasing youth participation in governance and elections in their countries.

Speaking to ZimLive on Friday, Haruzivishe said a taxi driver whose vehicle had been used by the four deported activists had been threatened with arrest.