(MISA/IFEX) – On Tuesday 2 April 2002, Peta Thornycroft, the Zimbabwe correspondent for the British “Daily Telegraph”, was questioned on the status of her citizenship in the continuing saga following her arrest on Wednesday 27 March. Thornycroft was asked by police to report to the magistrate’s court in the eastern border town of Mutare on […]
(MISA/IFEX) – On Tuesday 2 April 2002, Peta Thornycroft, the Zimbabwe correspondent for the British “Daily Telegraph”, was questioned on the status of her citizenship in the continuing saga following her arrest on Wednesday 27 March.
Thornycroft was asked by police to report to the magistrate’s court in the eastern border town of Mutare on Tuesday 2 April. On 3 April, the journalist told MISA-Zimbabwe that the Mutare chief immigration officer asked her where her parents were born and whether she had renounced her British citizenship. “I told them that I renounced my British citizenship in December 2001,” said Thornycroft. She also said that all her travel documents were returned and that she was on her way to the capital, Harare.
This development is largely seen as an orchestrated move by the Zimbabwean authorities to persist with Thornycroft’s harassment. The allegation that she is a “foreign” citizen is likely to be trumped up in an effort to silence the reporter. The government of Zimbabwe promulgated a controversial citizenship law before the March presidential elections that demands that all Zimbabweans born of parents originally not from Zimbabwe renounce their “foreign citizenship”, in order for them to be able to vote and become full citizens of Zimbabwe.
This law was largely seen as targeting the large farm workers’ community, many of them originally from Malawi, Zambia and Mozambique and the white community. These groups are largely seen as sympathetic to the opposition, Movement for Democratic Change. Thousands of people born in Zimbabwe had their citizenship revoked and many were unable to vote on the basis of this law.
By bringing the question of Thornycroft’s citizenship into this matter, Zimbabwean authorities seem determined to “find” a charge against the reporter, after having failed to formally charge her with any wrongdoing.
Background Information
The intelligence services, in collaboration with the police, arrested Thornycroft in Chimanimani on Wednesday 27 March. She was released on Sunday 31 March, after a high court judgement was sought for her release. The High Court ordered that she be released as the police had failed to formally charge her. The police can only go by way of summons if they are still interested in pursuing the matter.
