A Harare court has granted Zimbabwe diamond activist Farai Maguwu's bail request. Maguwu has been in jail for more than five weeks on allegations of passing false information on diamond-mining violations to the international diamond control body.

According to various media reports, Judge Mawadze Gurainesu granted Maguwu's bail, dismissing prosecutors' claims that Maguwu – who heads the Center for Research and Development (CRD) – could interfere with witnesses being called for police investigations into his alleged whistleblowing activities.

Maguwu is accused of “communicating and publishing falsehoods against the State” and endangering the country’s economy after he allegedly gave information on human rights abuses in a Zimbabwe diamond mine to a Kimberly Process Monitor, according to the International Federation for Human Rights.



The court said the prosecution failed to provide sufficient reason for Maguwu to remain incarcerated. Madguwu was ordered to pay $1,500 bail and is not allowed travel more than 25 miles from his house.



Eli Izhakoff, President of the World Diamond Council, welcomed the news of Maguwu's release: "We are relieved that Mr. Maguwu has been released from detention and is able to rejoin his family.



"This is a positive development, but only a first step. We sincerely hope that the charges that had been leveled against Mr. Magawu will be dropped as well.



"Mr Magawu's ongoing detention clearly has clouded the discussions regarding the resumption of rough diamond exports from the Marange region. I hope that this latest development will help set the stage for the discussion that we will have at the Kimberley Process Mini-Summit in St. Petersburg tomorrow, and that we then will be able to move forward toward the resolution of the current impasse."