The missing Citizens Coalition for Change (CCC) linked student leader studying at Chinhoyi University of Science and Technology was found dumped outside the capital, Harare.
The outspoken youth leader, Rajiv Recline Ndongwe found injured and believed to have been tortured by state security agents.
He went missing on Wednesday and was allegedly arrested by police in Harare for staging an anti-government protest in the high-density suburb of Budiriro.
However, police officials had denied that they had arrested him.
According to CCC officials, Ndongwe was found by a roadside in Mazowe area Mashonaland Central Province just outside the capital.
Ndongwe is admitted to a private hospital for treatment.
His disappearance had caused much furore in domestic and international circles, with protests by Zimbabwean civil society organisations and condemnations from international rights groups and the diplomatic community.
The European Union had issued a statement urging authorities to act “in line with constitutional and legal obligations … to establish his whereabouts and well-being.”
In a tweet on Thursday, the Canadian Embassy in Zimbabwe also called on authorities “to investigate and to assist his lawyers and family locate him.”
Global rights group Amnesty International also issued a statement on Thursday, saying Ndongwe was “arrested at a roadblock in Budiriro guarded by police and soldiers on 7 April” but “police have denied that the activist was in their custody.”
Urging authorities to ensure his safe return, the group said it was “deeply alarming that the state claims that it cannot account for the activist when he was arrested at a roadblock run by both the police and the military.”
Ndongwe is a second-year student at Chinhoyi University of Technology.
