Zimbabwe: British journalists deported following acquittal
Two British journalists detained in Zimbabwe during parliamentary elections left the country this week after being acquitted of the criminal charge of reporting without accreditation from the government-controlled Media and Information Commission. Toby Harnden, chief foreign correspondent for the London-based Sunday Telegraph, and photographer Julian Simmonds boarded a plane and safely reached neighboring South Africa, a newspaper spokeswoman said. The journalists had spent two weeks in prison while standing trial.
IFEX - News from the international freedom of expression community
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PRESS RELEASE/UPDATE - ZIMBABWE
19 April 2005
British journalists deported following acquittal
SOURCE: Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), New York
**Updates IFEX alerts of 15, 5 and 4 April 2005**
(CPJ/IFEX) - The following is a 15 April 2005 CPJ press release:
ZIMBABWE: British journalists acquitted, deported
New York, April 15, 2005 - Two British journalists detained in Zimbabwe
during parliamentary elections left the country today after being acquitted
of the criminal charge of reporting without accreditation from the
government-controlled Media and Information Commission.
Toby Harnden, chief foreign correspondent for the London-based Sunday
Telegraph, and photographer Julian Simmonds boarded a plane today and safely
reached neighboring South Africa, a newspaper spokeswoman said. The
journalists had spent two weeks in prison while standing trial.
Harnden and Simmonds were arrested at a polling station in Norton, a town
near the capital, Harare, on March 31, during Zimbabwean parliamentary
elections. The journalists were charged with violating the draconian Access
to Information and Protection of Privacy Act (AIPPA), which requires all
journalists in Zimbabwe to register with the media commission or face a
two-year jail sentence.
The journalists were released on bail from prison yesterday after their
acquittal on accreditation charges. They were handed over to immigration
authorities for deportation today after being acquitted of a separate charge
under Zimbabwe's immigration law, according to media reports.
Magistrate Never Diza said that state prosecutors failed to prove that
Harnden and Simmonds, who said they had traveled to Zimbabwe as tourists,
were working in the country illegally. "All in all, the state failed to
provide sufficient evidence to show the accused persons have a case to
answer," Diza said, according to news reports.
While Zimbabwean state media reported that hundreds of foreign journalists
were accredited to cover the elections, many were refused accreditation and
accused of political bias, including all journalists from the BBC and from
the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC). At least one journalist from
the Daily Telegraph, the Sunday Telegraph's sister paper, was refused
accreditation.
CPJ is a New York-based, independent, nonprofit organization that works to
safeguard press freedom worldwide. For more information, visit
http://www.cpj.org.
For further information, contact Africa Program Coordinator Julia Crawford
or Research Associate Alexis Arieff at CPJ, 330 Seventh Ave., New York, NY
10001, U.S.A., tel: +1 212 465 1004, fax: +1 212 465 9568, e-mail:
[email protected], Internet: http://www.cpj.org/
The information contained in this press release/update is the sole
responsibility of CPJ. In citing this material for broadcast or publication,
please credit CPJ.
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