(MISA/IFEX) – “The Standard” newspaper reports that it is working to press charges of contempt of court against several government officials, including Defence Minister Moven Mahachi and his permanent secretary, Job Whabira, for defying three High Court orders to free the paper’s editor, Mark Chavunduka, from illegal detention by military police. **Updates IFEX alerts of […]
(MISA/IFEX) – “The Standard” newspaper reports that it is working to press
charges of contempt of court against several government officials, including
Defence Minister Moven Mahachi and his permanent secretary, Job Whabira, for
defying three High Court orders to free the paper’s editor, Mark Chavunduka,
from illegal detention by military police.
**Updates IFEX alerts of 27 January, 25 January, 22 January, 21 January, 18
January, 15 January and 13 January 1999**
The paper’s lawyer, Simon Bull says: “We are going to pursue the contempt of
court charges separately. We will serve the court papers ordering the
officials to be convicted. If they oppose us, then the matter will be heard
in an open court.”
Meanwhile, on 27 January 1999, a group of Zimbabwean lawyers met Attorney
General Patrick Chinamasa in Harare to formally protest the detention and
torture by the military of Chavunduka and reporter Ray Choto. “The Standard”
reports that the lawyers, grouped under the auspices of the Zimbabwe Lawyers
for Human Rights (ZLHR), held closed-door talks with Chinamasa to tell him
that the treatment of the journalists and subsequent defiance by government
officials of High Court rulings ordering the release of the two men was an
assault on the rule of law in Zimbabwe.
The lawyers, led by Kevin Loue, gave no details of their talks, but in an
earlier statement said: “The ZLHR sees these issues (the detention and
alleged torture) as extending far beyond the freedom of two individuals for
the reason that human rights form the continent of us all. No man is an
island unto himself.”
On Tuesday, riot police broke up a Harare demonstration by dozens of the
lawyers and several hundred sympathisers who wanted to petition Parliament
over the issue.
In another development, the SABA news agency reports that a senior
Zimbabwean government official has attacked the country’s private newspapers
and some foreign media.
The Senior Secretary for Information, Willard Chiwewe, alleged the
journalists were advancing their political agenda by painting a bad image of
the country. He said it was unfortunate that some people were turning the
journalism profession into a weapon to criticise President Robert Mugabe’s
administration.
Chiwewe accused Zimbabwe’s privately-owned publications and foreign
reporters of manufacturing information about Zimbabwe and turning it into
lethal weapons for the government’s downfall. He was addressing a workshop
in the capital, Harare, called to work out ways the ministry of information
can fight back.
Background Information
Chavunduka and Choto were held over a story in their paper on 10 January
alleging a coup plot in Zimbabwe. The government says there was no such plot
and has charged them with publishing a false story likely to cause alarm and
despondency.
Chavunduka was arrested by the military on 12 January. Choto was arrested by
police on 19 January, and handed over to the military for interrogation.
Both men say they were tortured by the military and state security agents in
an underground chamber near Harare, where they were severely beaten,
suffocated in water and had electric shocks applied to their genitals.
The Defence Minister has denied the torture charges, branding them lies.
But several governments, including the United States of America, Britain and
Norway, along with scores of local and international human rights bodies,
have asked the authorities to promptly investigate the claims and bring the
culprits to book. Chavunduka and Choto have yet to report for work because
they are still recuperating from their ordeal.
Both men have been charged under the Law and Order Maintenance Act of 1960
for publishing false reports that were “likely to cause alarm, fear or
despondency to the public, or section thereof.” The offence carries with it
a maximum prison sentence of seven years. They were released on 21 January
on bail of Zim$10,000 (approx. US$255). They were not asked to plead and
were remanded to appear for trial on 22 February. They were also instructed
to surrender their travel documents.
On 22 January, the day after their release, police arrested the managing
director of “The Standard”, Clive Wilson, and held him in jail for three
nights. Wilson was released unconditionally on 23 January after the Attorney
General refused to prosecute him for what he said was the police’s lack of
evidence.
Speaking to reporters afterwards, Wilson said he was interrogated for three
and a half hours concerning the sources of the contentious story which
appeared in “The Standard”, but that he was not tortured in any way.
Recommended Action
Send appeals to authorities:
association and assembly
the two journalists and for those responsible to be brought to book
violation
of the right to freedom of expression as contained in Article 19 of the
International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and Article 9 of the
African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights, of which Zimbabwe is a
signatory
Appeals To
His Excellency President Robert Mugabe
Office of the President
Causeway, Harare
Zimbabwe
Fax: +263 4 708 557Mr Moven Mahachi
Zimbabwe Minister of Defence
Fax: +263 4 796 762
Please copy appeals to the source if possible.
