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Africa: Subsaharan | ||
4 Journalists Flee Bob-Land | ||
2005-02-23 | ||
Zimbabwe's Central Intelligence Organization, the country's secret police, threatened the journalists with arrest for transmitting "material prejudicial to the state," and alleged they were spies. The raids and subsequent threats of arrest were seen as an attempt ahead of the March 31 parliamentary elections to silence the foreign media, one of the last independent voices remaining in Zimbabwe. Zimbabwe forced the country's only independent daily newspaper, the Daily News, to close last year despite court orders that it be allowed to reopen. All other broadcast news and daily newspapers in the country are controlled by the state. On Feb. 15, 10 police officers searched the office shared by Angus Shaw, a freelancer who contributes to The Associated Press, Jaan Raath, who contributes to the Times of London and Bryan Latham who contributes to Bloomberg. A fourth journalist, Cornelius Nduna, a Zimbabwean freelance television producer who works for a number of foreign news organizations, left the country after secret police raided his office a week earlier and said they were looking for him. The police, who did not have a warrant, searched the office of Shaw, Raath and Latham, and examined the computers over the objections of a lawyer for the journalists, Beatrice Mtetwa, who was present during the search. Police returned two days later with a search warrant that said they had grounds to believe the journalists had filed false stories "prejudicial to the state" and that they had illegal communications equipment. The police also alleged the journalists were working illegally without a license from the government. Under Zimbabwe's tough media laws, a story considered "prejudicial to the state" or working without applying for a government license is punishable by imprisonment.
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Posted by:Steve White |
#1 From yesterday with minor revisions To all - The new anthem of The People's Republic of Zim-Bob-Me, formerly Zimbabwe : I-come-a-zimBob-zimBob-starvin' I-come-a-zimBob-starvin'-you I-come-a-zimBob-zimBob-shootin' I-come-a-zimBob-shoot-you-dead See them there, the starving masses, See him there, the well fed chief, ZimBob chief, chief, chief... |
Posted by: Ogeretla 2005 2005-02-23 11:52:20 AM |