Zimbabwe: Crackdown on the Press Intensifies

11 February 2006

(New York) -- The Zimbabwean government has launched a new assault onthe country s remaining independent press through a wave ofcriminal prosecutions and arrests, Human Rights Watch saidtoday.

Tomorrow in Harare, six trustees of Voice of thePeople (VOP), a privately-owned radio station, are due toappear in court on criminal charges. On January 24, theauthorities brought charges of broadcasting without alicense against six of the station s trustees. VOP was oneof the few alternatives to the state-controlled ZimbabweBroadcasting Corporation, the only broadcaster with alicense to operate legally in the country.

Inaddition, police in Mutare on January 18 arrested SydneySaize, an independent journalist who had allegedly filed astory for Voice of America claiming that militants of theruling ZANU-PF party had beaten teachers in the city. Saizefaces possible criminal charges for practicing journalismwithout accreditation and publishing falsehoods punishableunder the Public Order and Security Act of 2002.

"The Zimbabwean government is using criminal charges tomuzzle independent reporting and criticism," said Paul Simo,Africa advocacy director at Human Rights Watch. "Thiscrackdown targets media that criticize governmentinstitutions, officials and the ruling party."

Earlier in January, Zimbabwe s government-appointedMedia and Information Commission (MIC) threatened to cancelthe license of the Financial Gazette, a privately-ownednewspaper, if it did not retract a story that had questionedthe commission s independence from government. On January29, the commission refused to renew the accreditation offifteen journalists working for the Zimbabwe Independent,another privately-owned newspaper, until the paper wasforced to retract a similar story.

Evenindividuals somehow associated with those involved inindependent media organizations have been harassed by thepolice. Zimbabwean police arrested and detained fouremployees of Arnold Tsunga, one of the VOP trustees facingtrial, for failing to disclose Tsunga s whereabouts topolice. A lawyer representing two of the employees (who havesince been released) told Human Rights Watch that apoliceman repeatedly slapped one of the men around the headwhile in detention. A subsequent medical examination by aprivate doctor showed that the victim sustained a puncturedear drum during the assault.

In December, policearrested three female employees of VOP and refused torelease them, demanding that VOP s director, John Masuku,turn himself in to police. The women spent four days incustody and were only released when Masuku appeared at apolice station in Harare where he was then arrested. TheOffice of the Attorney General refused to prosecute theemployees due to a lack of evidence of any criminal offense.

"The Zimbabwean government has detained innocentpeople to coerce others to surrender," said Simo. "This is agross abuse of the criminal justice system,"

Background

In the last five years,Zimbabwe s government has enacted laws that give itdiscretionary control over who may operate a media outletand practice journalism, as well as broad powers toprosecute persons critical of the government. In March,Human Rights Watch documented how the government hasselectively used these laws to restrict independent mediaactivity through intimidation, arbitrary arrests, andcriminal prosecutions of journalists. These practicesviolate international guarantees to freedom of expression.

Under the Access to Information and Protection ofPrivacy Act of 2002, owners of media houses who do notregister with the Media and Information Commission face upto two years in prison if convicted. An amendment passed onJanuary 7 2005 provides for criminal penalties tojournalists who operate without accreditation.

TheBroadcasting Services Act of 2001 reinforced the state smonopoly over all electronic broadcasting. The law gives theMinister of State for Information and Publicity theauthority to determine who gets a broadcasting license andunder what circumstances, to tighten restrictions on thenature, quality and quantity of information broadcastthrough radio and television, and to ban broadcasters whoare deemed to be a threat to national security.

The Public Order and Security Act of 2002 introduced arange of overbroad and vague criminal offences that trammelthe right to free expression. The law criminalizes criticismof the president, whether his person or his office. It alsoprohibits the publication of a false statement thatprejudices or is intended to prejudice the country's defenseor economic interests, or which undermines or is intended toundermine public confidence in a law enforcement agency, andthe holding of a public gathering without giving the policefour days' written notice.
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