Zimbabwe: Police detain journalist for filming raid on street vendors
Zimbabwean security forces have detained a freelance journalist filming police as they cleared Harare's central business district of street vendors, according to a lawyer for the press freedom group MISA-Zimbabwe. The journalist, Frank Chikowore, was being held without charge. "It's outrageous that Zimbabwean authorities would lock up someone who was simply filming the activities of police in a public place," said Ann Cooper, executive director of the Committee to Protect Journalists. "We demand the immediate and unconditional release of Frank Chikowore and an end to this kind of abuse."
IFEX - News from the international freedom of expression community
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ALERT - ZIMBABWE
19 May 2005
Police detain journalist for filming raid on street vendors
SOURCE: Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), New York
(CPJ/IFEX) - The following is a CPJ press release:
ZIMBABWE: Police detain journalist who filmed raid on street vendors
New York, May 19, 2005 - Zimbabwean security forces yesterday detained a
freelance journalist filming police as they cleared Harare's central
business district of street vendors, according to a lawyer for the press
freedom group MISA-Zimbabwe. The journalist, Frank Chikowore, was being held
without charge today.
"It's outrageous that Zimbabwean authorities would lock up someone who was
simply filming the activities of police in a public place," said Ann Cooper,
executive director of the Committee to Protect Journalists. "We demand the
immediate and unconditional release of Frank Chikowore and an end to this
kind of abuse."
MISA-Zimbabwe legal officer Wilbert Mandinde, who is seeking Chikowore's
release, said police gave no explanation for the arrest. He told CPJ that
Chikowore had a government license to practice journalism, as required by
Zimbabwe's Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act (AIPPA), and
that he had been detained because he was filming police "harassing innocent
people."
Chikowore had just finished another assignment when he came upon the police
sweep and began filming, MISA-Zimbabwe spokesman Nyasha Nyakunu said.
Mandinde, who met with Chikowore, said the journalist has a swollen left
foot after being manhandled by police. MISA-Zimbabwe reported that police
confiscated Chikowore's video camera and two notebooks.
A crackdown on the independent press in Zimbabwe that started in 2002 has
included the detainment, harassment, and forced exiled of dozens of
journalists, as well as the closure of four newspapers.
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 alert is the sole responsibility of CPJ.
In citing this material for broadcast or publication, please credit CPJ.
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