New York, July 25, 2002—Zimbabwe’s Daily News editor-in-chief Geoff Nyarota and reporter Lloyd Mudiwa, who are charged with “abusing journalistic privilege” and “publishing false information,” have successfully petitioned a magistrate’s court in Zimbabwe’s capital, Harare, to have their case referred to the country’s Supreme Court.
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Magistrate Sandra Nhau granted a motion from defense lawyers to have the case heard by the country’s highest court after claims by Nyarota and Mudiwa that the sections of the Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act, under which they have been charged, are unconstitutional.
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No date has been set for the Supreme Court hearing.
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The charges stem from an April 23 story written by Mudiwa alleging that young members of the ruling ZANU-PF party beheaded an opposition supporter. The story was later declared inaccurate, and the newspaper published an apology.
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The charges carry a maximum penalty of two years in jail.
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Andrew Meldrum, a U.S. citizen and the Zimbabwe correspondent for the British Guardian newspaper, was the first journalist to be tried under Zimbabwe’s repressive new media laws. On July 15, he was acquitted of “publishing false information” and “abusing journalistic privileges” but was ordered to leave the country within 24 hours. He has appealed the order, and the Supreme Court will hear his case. No date has been set for the hearing.
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Since March 15, fourteen journalists have been arrested and charged with violating Zimbabwe’s various anti-media laws. [See CPJ’s special report, Twilight of a Despot: Attacks on Press Freedom in Zimbabwe, 1999 to the present]
