(ARTICLE 19/IFEX) – The following is an ARTICLE 19 press release: 5 June 2000 – for immediate release Zimbabwe Journalists Win Supreme Court Case In a landmark judgment upholding the right to freedom of expression, the Supreme Court of Zimbabwe has struck down the legal provision under which tortured journalists Mark Chavunduka and Ray Choto […]
(ARTICLE 19/IFEX) – The following is an ARTICLE 19 press release:
5 June 2000 – for immediate release
Zimbabwe Journalists Win Supreme Court Case
In a landmark judgment upholding the right to freedom of expression, the Supreme Court of Zimbabwe has struck down the legal provision under which tortured journalists Mark Chavunduka and Ray Choto were charged last year. If the prosecution had been successful, the journalists could have received prison sentences of up to seven years.
Rather than responding to the charges, Chavunduka and Choto challenged their validity with a direct appeal to the Supreme Court. ARTICLE 19’s lawyers worked closely with the applicants’ legal team to develop a submission to the Court reflecting the best international and comparative standards in this area. The provision prohibits the publication of any false statement that is likely to cause fear, alarm or despondency among the public.
The Court quoted from ARTICLE 19’s brief: “Were this provision to be actively applied, it would exert a significant chilling effect on freedom of expression”, holding that this represented “a fair and realistic summation of the harsh impact” of the provision.
Andrew Puddephatt, Executive Director of ARTICLE 19 said:
“We are delighted that the Zimbabwean Supreme Court, in a powerful and unanimous decision, has struck out the provision which might have led to the imprisonment of Ray Choto and Mark Chavunduka.
“This is a very significant victory for freedom of expression and sends a clear signal that “false news” measures are unacceptable. ARTICLE 19 hopes to build on this, using the judgment to assist in our efforts to do away with the false news provisions that still exist and are actively applied in many countries,” he added.
Notes for Editors
1. On 10 January 1999, The Standard newspaper published a story alleging that there had been an unsuccessful coup attempt in the Zimbabwean army. Two days later, Chavunduka, the editor of The Standard, was arrested and held for over a week. Choto, the author of the article, voluntarily surrendered himself to the police. Both were severely tortured and spent time in the UK receiving treatment. They were charged under section 50(2)(a) of the Law and Order (Maintenance) Act with publishing false statements likely to cause fear, alarm or despondency among the public or any section thereof.
2. In particular, the Court held that false statements were protected by the constitutional guarantee of freedom of expression, and that the provision breached that guarantee in that it was excessively vague, did not serve a legislative objective of sufficient importance to warrant overriding a constitutionally protected right and was excessively broad.
3. Pius Njawé, the Cameroon journalist, was imprisoned for nearly 10 months in 1998, after being convicted of publishing false news for alleging that the President of Cameroon was ill. ARTICLE 19 considers all false news provisions to breach international guarantees of freedom of expression and calls on those States which still have such laws to repeal them.
