Noted Zimbabwean comedian Samantha Kureya has gone into hiding after being brutally attacked and taken from her home last Wednesday.

Kureya, known by her stage name 'Gonyeti,' was kidnapped from her home in Harare, beaten and forced to drink sewage before being thrown out of a car, according to the BBC.

Her story has turned the international spotlight on the violent political crackdown by the current Zimbabwean government, led by President Emmerson Mnangagwa and the ruling Zanu-PF party.

Kureya has made a career out of lampooning local police and politicians even though the country was very well-known for arresting comedians during the regime of former longtime dictator Robert Mugabe.

The regime has started to abduct comedians. They’ve made Zim a security state where no-one is safe. Samantha Kureya (Gonyeti) is funny as hell & an equal opportunity critic. She took a dig at me just the other day.

It’s humour & banter that she mustn’t be persecuted for, ever. https://t.co/t50mFqqW5o

— Fadzayi Mahere ???????? (@advocatemahere) August 21, 2019

Her brother Jonathan Gasa told the BBC that six men came to their home last Wednesday night and stripped her naked before attacking her. He said they screamed that she was using her skills to "undermine" the government.

“They started saying: ‘You mock the government and we have been monitoring you.' They told me to lie down and instructed me to start rolling on the ground. They would instruct me to roll from either side and each time I did, I would get beaten. They started stomping on my back,” the 33-year-old Kureya told The Guardian on Wednesday.

“They said: ‘If you report this case, we will put a bullet in your mother’s skull.’ We are not safe in this country, it’s scary. If men like that come and abduct a woman like me with guns, it’s scary.”

Lucky Aaron, one of her colleagues at her company Bustop TV, told the BBC that he found her outside of the city about three hours later and took her to the hospital.

She is now in an undisclosed location with family members, some of whom were also beaten in the attack. The police have not released any statement, but Energy Mutodi, the deputy information minister, implied that Kureya was faking the entire thing.

Police had already arrested Kureya once before this year for "public nuisance" after she performed a skit in a police uniform.

Kureya's story was even mentioned by opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) leader Nelson Chamisa on Twitter.

The love of Power must never overwhelm the power of love. Mr ED why such barbaric human rights abuses and violations??Why destroy such talent?? https://t.co/vUWhp3pvDu

— nelson chamisa (@nelsonchamisa) August 22, 2019

The situation in Zimbabwe continues to worsen as the country struggles to rebound economically after decades of lecherous dictatorship. Despite hopes that the army's overthrow of Mugabe and the election of Mnangagwa in 2018 would change things, the country's economy has gotten worse.

The Guardian and BBC report that Mnangagwa and his police forces have brutally shut down many protests for months and arrested thousands of protesters. People took to the streets in January and continue to protest over shortages of water, bread, fuel and medicines as well as triple-figure inflation.

Here is another CCTV evidence!

August 24, the police in Harare CBD were indiscriminately beating anyone, including women and children; and also destroyed property.

We demand answers @PoliceZimbabwe.@TimoOlkkonen
@FCOHumanRights
@HMAMelanieR
@MinisterSBMoyo
@AsstSecStateAF
pic.twitter.com/eZra2UKcVO

— TeamPachedu (@PacheduZW) August 26, 2019

The UN says a third of the country is in need of food aid. Power cuts now can last for up to 18 hours each day.

Beyond human rights violations, violence, inhuman and degrading treatment, this attack on a woman who is using her talent to earn an honest living is barbaric. Attacking arts and creative community icons like Gonyeti is a cruel attack on women, creative industry and media. pic.twitter.com/DiZstEK43g

— nelson chamisa (@nelsonchamisa) August 23, 2019

"I just hope in Zimbabwe we have the freedom to talk about the president without being in trouble, the freedom to talk about anyone without the police coming after you," Kureya told the BBC in 2018 after Mugabe's ouster.

"I just hope it will change."

Samantha-Kureya

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