Immigration authorities in Mozambique have seized the diplomatic passport of opposition leader Venancio Mondlane after his return to the Southern African nation, his legal adviser said Friday.
Dinis Tivane, in his Facebook post, claimed that the authorities seized the passport on Thursday at Maputo International Airport in capital Maputo.
According to him, Mondlane, who has been outside the country after the October 9 presidential elections whose results he claims were fraudulent, has lost his status as a member of parliament.
But Tivane said that the move is intended to "intimidate and hold him in the country."
'Legal challenge'
“We are going to mount a legal challenge to discover who really gave this ‘illegal order.’ We will not rest until justice is delivered in our favor,” he said.
Mozambique has been gripped by protests since October 21, with the opposition disputing the victory of 47-year-old Daniel Chapo of the ruling Frelimo party who has been declared winner of the October 9 presidential elections.
Chapo got 71% of the vote, defeating Mondlane who got only 20%.
Mondlane, who claims to have won the election, called for protests. The Constitutional Council was then tasked with overseeing the case, and last month it affirmed that Chapo had won the vote but reduced his percentage to 65%. This caused fresh and more violent protests.
Nearly 300 people have died since the protests started in the country, with most deaths caused by gunfi re from security personnel, according to civil society groups and a local elections monitoring group.
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