Imagine working on your talent,lets say drawing ,tracing or even sketching as it happens nowadays in our Primary and high schools.
In a sad turn of affairs,Three young girls were arrested last week and are awaiting trial after being charged on Monday with insulting the head of state.
The authorities had initially arrested seven schoolchildren last week, but four of them, including a 13-year-old, were freed immediately.The other three, under the age of 18, spent the weekend in prison.
The girls are accused of defacing photographs of Nkurunziza in five textbooks belonging to their school, but teachers pointed out that the books are shared among all the pupils as there are not enough for everyone to have their own.
A judicial source, who called the case “very sensitive” and said it was overseen directly by the Attorney General, reported that the girls arrived at the prison on Wednesday afternoon.
HRW director for Central Africa Lewis Mudge said The father of one of the girls said on Saturday they were too scared to eat.A human rights Watch Directior confirmed.
Mr Lewis Mudge, The Director in Central Africa: “With so many real crimes being committed in Burundi, it’s tragic that children are the ones being prosecuted for harmless scribbles.
The Authorities should focus on holding perpetrators of serious rights violations to account instead of jailing schoolchildren for doodles.”
This is not the first time he had made hasty decisions in ordering arrests.He was once playing football and the Congolese refugees who did not know they were playing against Burundi’s president, they “attacked each time he had the ball and made him fall several times.He ordered the arrest of all of them.
The rights activist has tweeted a cartoon and a picture of Mr Nkurunziza that has been scribbled on to show his opposition to the arrests.
This is sad because Burundi has been in turmoil since Nkurunziza in April 2015 sought a fiercely-contested third term in office.Justice should prevail to these young girls.