Zimbabwean Pastor Phillip Patrick Mugadza (R) is escorted by armed guards at the Harare Magistrates court, where he faces charges of insulting President Robert Mugabe for allegedly prophesing the statesman would die on October 17 this year, according to the local media, in Harare, Zimbabwe, January 18, 2017. REUTERS/Philimon Bulawayo

HARARE (Reuters) - A Zimbabwean activist pastor appeared in court on Wednesday after police arrested him for predicting that President Robert Mugabe would die in October this year.

Patrick Mugadza, a preacher in the tourist resort town of Victoria Falls, told journalists last week that he had received a prophecy from God that Mugabe would die on Oct. 17.

Mugadza was arrested on Monday after appearing at the magistrate court on a separate charge of abusing the national flag. He also faces another charge of public nuisance after holding a one-man anti-government protest last year.

Prosecutors could not formally lay charges of criminal nuisance on Mugadza because his lawyers objected to an additional charge of “offences to persons of particular religion or race.”

He will return to court on Thursday.

Zimbabwean police often arrest political activists for insulting or undermining Mugabe’s office, but most of the cases have been dismissed by the courts.

Mugabe has since December been in Singapore on his annual holiday. He has traveled to China and Mali in between.