Job Sikhala has been repeatedly denied bail as he awaits trial on incitement to violence and obstruction charges.

He was arrested on 14 June after opposition Citizens Coalition for Change supporters clashed with those of the ruling Zanu-PF at the funeral wake of murder victim Moreblessing Ali, a woman the opposition claimed as a party member.

About a dozen other opposition supporters were also arrested.

He was charged with inciting violence and for misleading the police for a social media video in which he is alleged to have blamed the ruling party for the murder.

The courts have denied Mr Sikhala bail, ruling that he was likely to reoffend as he faces similar unrelated charges.

His lengthy pre-trial detention has prompted a letter to the African Union and human rights groups in which he decried a "total breakdown of laws... We are under political persecution passed as trials," he said.