(MISA/IFEX) – Three journalists were arrested in Harare on the afternoon of 30 January 2002. The arrests occurred during a demonstration outside Parliament, where the Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Bill was being discussed. “The Daily News” journalists Foster Dongozi and Rhodah Maschavane and “The Standard” news editor Cornelius Nduna were arrested when […]
(MISA/IFEX) – Three journalists were arrested in Harare on the afternoon of 30 January 2002. The arrests occurred during a demonstration outside Parliament, where the Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Bill was being discussed.
“The Daily News” journalists Foster Dongozi and Rhodah Maschavane and “The Standard” news editor Cornelius Nduna were arrested when armed police officers rushed the crowd. The demonstration, organised by MISA-Zimbabwe and the Zimbabwean Union of Journalists (ZUJ), was attended by approximately fifty journalists, mostly from independent media outlets. MISA-Zimbabwe has secured legal counsel for the journalists. Bruce Mujeye of the legal firm Gollop & Blank and Tawanda Hondora of the Kantor & Immerman firm will act on their behalf
The journalists were taken to the police’s Law and Order Section and were to be charged during the afternoon of 30 January. They were protesting the fact that the bill was being discussed in Parliament, despite an adverse report by the Parliamentary Legal Committee released on 29 January.
On 29 January, the Parliamentary Legal Committee said that the Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Bill remains unconstitutional, despite the thirty-six amendments to the bill.
