The Telegraph
By Peta Thornycroft and Aislinn Laing
30 May 2012
Petroc Trelawny, the BBC music presenter arrested in Zimbabwe for failing to obtain a work permit to compère at a music festival, is facing prison after immigration authorities filed a new charge against him of lying on his visa application.
The latest development came just hours after a High Court judge ruled that Mr Trelawny’s passport be returned to him and he be allowed to leave the country.
He has been held in police custody since he was arrested last Thursday while on stage with 500 local schoolchildren at the Bulawayo Music Festival, on suspicion of working without a permit.
On Monday, Zimbabwe’s Attorney General ruled that Mr Trelawny should not be prosecuted for failing to obtain a Temporary Employment Permit since it was the duty of the academy which invited him.
But immigration authorities challenged the Attorney General’s decision, and on Wednesday ordered that he appear before the courts on a new charge of violating the conditions of his entry into the country on a tourist visa.
Mr Trelawny, 41, who spent the weekend in hospital under police guard after slipping and dislocating his shoulder in his police cell, said he was determined to be cleared of the charges against him.
“I am delighted to no longer be under police guard, although they were very nice to me. So many have been so good to me,†he said.
“I expect to be in court tomorrow and I so want to come back to Bulawayo again. I want to leave Bulawayo under my own volition.â€
Munyaradzi Ngarayapenga, his lawyer, said he had been released from hospital into the custody of a friend.
“He has been released but immigration is going to prosecute him to stand trial tomorrow. He doesn’t have his passport. He is now here on a temporary permit,” he said.
“He is being charged with violating the conditions of his entry, in other words he is accused of making a false declaration when he came into the country.”
If found guilty, Mr Trelawny could be fined up to £3,200 or a prison sentence of 10 years. If they want to deport him, they must secure a conviction.
The latest development has laid bare fierce political wranglings between the government’s state security arm – which backs President Robert Mugabe’s Zanu PF – and ministers from Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai’s Movement for Democratic Change, who run the Arts and Home Affairs ministries, responsible for managing visitors’ permits.
David Coltart, the MDC Arts, Culture and Education Minister, condemned the treatment of Mr Trelawny “in the strongest possible terms”.
“This is outrageous conduct by the Department of Immigration and is seriously damaging to Zimbabwe’s international reputation,” he said.
“It undermines the efforts of many of us who are trying to persuade the Europeans and North Americans to engage with us.”
Theresa Makone, the MDC Home Affairs Minister, said the immigration authorities had “no right” to insist on Mr Trelawny’s continued detention.
“As far as I am concerned, he has committed no offence. It’s not his business to get a TEP but in any case, it’s not a matter of life and death whether he had one or not because he was not working for profit, he was working as a volunteer to assist under-privileged children.”
A Harare lawyer with expertise in immigration issues said Home Affairs would have little sway over those driving Mr Trelawny’s prosecution.
“The immigration department has enormous powers,” he said. “They can conduct their own investigations. There are people who have been in remand prison in Harare for years on immigration offences. This case is quite extraordinary given that the attorney-general declined to prosecute.”