ZIMBABWE: British journalist fined under media accreditation law

APRIL 2, 2007
Posted: April 6, 2007

Alexander John Perry, Time
HARASSED, LEGAL ACTION

A court in the southern town of Gwanda sentenced Perry, the Africa bureau chief of the European edition of the U.S. newsmagazine Time, to a fine of 100 Zimbabwean dollars (US$0.41) on charges of practicing journalism without accreditation and abusing journalistic privilege under Zimbabwe’s draconian media accreditation law known as AIPPA, defense lawyer Simbarashe Chivaura told CPJ.

The journalist pled guilty to the charges after being detained for 48 hours by police, according to state-owned daily The Herald and local journalists. He was arrested in the rural burg of West Nicholson after he interviewed a private miner about the effects of a police crackdown against unregulated gold and diamond dealers in the area, he later told CPJ.

Perry paid the fine, which was reduced from its statutory amount of 100,000 Zimbabwean dollars to adjust to the country’s record inflation, Chivaura said. He subsequently left the country.