Police detain journalist who filmed raid on street vendors
New York, May 19, 2005—Zimbabwean security forces yesterday detained a freelance journalist filming police as they cleared Harare’s central business district of street vendors, according to a lawyer for the press freedom group MISA-Zimbabwe. The journalist, Frank Chikowore, was being held without charge today. “It’s outrageous that Zimbabwean authorities would lock up someone who was…
High Court refuses to accredit Daily News journalists
New York, May 12, 2005 – Zimbabwe’s High Court yesterday dismissed a request to accredit journalists of the banned Daily News, according to news reports and CPJ sources. The ruling came more than a year after the newspaper’s owners, Associated Newspapers of Zimbabwe (ANZ), filed the application. The judge said the newspaper’s journalists could not…
ZIMBABWE
APRIL 20, 2005 Posted: April 27, 2005 Davison Maruziva, The Standard HARASSED, LEGAL ACTION Savious Kwinika, The Standard HARASSED, LEGAL ACTION Police brought criminal charges against Standard editor Maruziva. The following day they also brought charges against reporter Kwinika. Both journalists were charged in connection with an April 10 story alleging election irregularities—specifically for deliberately…
British journalists acquitted, deported
New York, April 15, 2005—Two British journalists detained in Zimbabwe during parliamentary elections left the country today after being acquitted of the criminal charge of reporting without accreditation from the government-controlled Media and Information Commission. Toby Harnden, chief foreign correspondent for the London-based Sunday Telegraph, and photographer Julian Simmonds boarded a plane today and safely…
British journalists face trial on accreditation charges
New York, April 4, 2005—Zimbabwean government prosecutors are pushing ahead with a criminal trial of two journalists from the London-based Sunday Telegraph on accreditation charges that could bring two years in prison, the journalists’ lawyer, Beatrice Mtetwa, said today. Toby Harnden, the newspaper’s chief foreign correspondent, and photographer Julian Simmonds have been jailed since their…
ZIMBABWE
APRIL 1, 2005 April 7, 2005 Fredrik Sperling, Sveriges Television (STV) HARASSED, EXPELLED Sperling, a reporter for Sweden’s public broadcaster, Sveriges Television (SVT), was arrested in central Harare and deported to South Africa, despite having been accredited to cover Zimbabwe’s March 31 parliamentary elections.
ZIMBABWE
MARCH 31, 2005 Posted: May 10, 2005 Toby Harnden, The Sunday TelegraphJulian Simmonds, The Sunday Telegraph IMPRISONED, LEGAL ACTION Harnden, chief foreign correspondent for the London-based Sunday Telegraph, and photographer Simmonds were arrested at a polling station in Norton, a town near the capital, Harare, according to a statement from the newspaper. The journalists were…
Supreme Court upholds repressive media law in Daily News case
New York, March 14, 2005—Zimbabwe’s Supreme Court today upheld a widely criticized law requiring all independent journalists and media organizations to register with a government commission, but ruled that the Media and Information Commission (MIC) must reconsider a 2003 decision to deny registration to the banned Daily News and its sister paper, the Daily News…
Attacks on the Press 2004: Africa Analysis
Overviewby Julia Crawford With the rule of law weak in many African countries, journalists regularly battle threats and harassment, not only from governments but also from rogue elements, such as militias. Repressive legislation is used in many countries to silence journalists who write about sensitive topics such as corruption, mismanagement, and human rights abuses. If…