(MISA/IFEX) – Two journalists from the Namibian Broadcasting Corporation (NBC) were arrested on 19 January 1999 in the Botswana capital, Gaborone. The “Namibian” newspaper reports that Andreas Frai, a reporter, and Vincent Spiegel, a camera operator, were apparently accused of harassing several dissident Namibians being held at a house in Gaborone pending their trial on […]
(MISA/IFEX) – Two journalists from the Namibian Broadcasting Corporation
(NBC) were arrested on 19 January 1999 in the Botswana capital, Gaborone.
The “Namibian” newspaper reports that Andreas Frai, a reporter, and Vincent
Spiegel, a camera operator, were apparently accused of harassing several
dissident Namibians being held at a house in Gaborone pending their trial on
charges of illegal entry and carrying weapons of war.
Frai, who was arrested a few hours before Spiegel’s arrest, was unaware of
the latter’s arrest until after their release, more than twelve hours later.
The police confiscated three video tapes from the journalists containing
interviews with a Botswana opposition leader, the editor of “Mmegi”
newspaper and Namibia’s High Commissioner in Gaborone, Joshua Hoebeb.
Frai said he was arrested by three officers who took him in for
interrogation. They accused him of harassing Namibians based in Gaborone and
reportedly went on to ask him wide-ranging political questions on the
situation in the Caprivi, in northern Namibia. The region has been the scene
of heightened military operations over the past few months, sparking an
exodus of several thousand people into neighboring Botswana.
The Director-General of the NBC, Ben Mulongeni, is reported to have
announced an investigation into the circumstances surrounding the
journalists’ arrest.
