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Lawyers groups attack Zimbabwe police use of hostage tactics
ZimOnline
January 27, 2006

http://www.zimonline.co.za/headdetail.asp?ID=11521

HARARE - Southern African and international lawyers' groups have criticised Zimbabwean police for clamping down on media freedom and using hostage tactics to secure the arrest of President Robert Mugabe's critics.

Police this week arrested and charged five trustees of the independent Voice of the People (VOP) broadcasting firm and charged them with violating the country's tough media laws.

But the police first detained two private workers of one of the trustees, Arnold Tsunga, and refused to release them until their employer surrendered himself.

In a letter to Attorney General (AG) Sobuza Gula Ndebele dated January 24, the International Bar Association (IBA) said: "We strongly condemn the renewed clampdown on media freedom and the unlawful use of the state's powers of arrest during policing operations relating to the investigation of VOP.

"We refer in particular to the unlawful and unacceptable arrest and prosecutions of Anesu Kamba and Charles Nyamufukudzwa that was clearly directed at securing the co-operation of their employer, VOP Trustee, Arnold Tsunga."

The arrests of Tsunga's workers followed the arrest on December 15 last year of Maria Nyanyiwa, Nyasha Bosha and Kundai Mugwanda, reporters with the VOP, who were detained for four days and subsequently released without charge.

Their arrests and detention was apparently made in order to persuade the executive director of VOP John Masuku to hand himself over to the police for questioning.

"We are gravely concerned at what appears to be an emerging pattern of illegitimate use of arrest as a device to secure the presence of suspects. We call for the respect for the rule of law and of basic human rights standards in all criminal investigations," the IBA said.

The IBA criticised Harare's Broadcasting Services Act which it said was being used to suppress media freedom in contravention of the government's obligation under the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the African Charter which both require the government to uphold the freedom of expression.

The broadcasting Act prohibits Zimbabweans from operating radio and television or even owning broadcasting equipment without permission from the Broadcasting Authority of Zimbabwe. Those convicted of breaching the Act face up two years in jail. The state accuses the VOP trustees and directors of operating a broadcasting service without a licence. They deny the charge.

In a separate letter to Gula-Ndebele, the Southern African Development Community Lawyers Association expressed concern that the Harare government was using the broadcasting Act and other media laws to arrest journalists although it had undertaken to review the harsh laws.

The association said: "We are concerned that the police are alleged to be implementing the media laws which the government of Zimbabwe itself recently formally advised the African Commission on Human and People's Rights were under review.

"It being conceded that they violate fundamental human rights and freedoms, we request that the police should respect their human rights, including the rights to liberty."

The VOP, which broadcasts on shortwave is one of two independent radio stations transmitting into Zimbabwe from outside the country in an attempt to circumvent Harare's tough laws and regulations.

The radio station's programmes are in the two main vernacular languages, Shona and Ndebele, enabling it to reach out to remoter parts of the country, inaccessible to Zimbabwe's few remaining independent newspapers.

Zimbabwe has four radio stations and one television station all controlled by the government.

The southern Africa country, which has laws providing for the imprisonment of journalists for up to 20 years for publishing falsehoods, was ranked by the World Association of Newspapers as one of the three most dangerous places in the world for journalists.

The other two countries are the former Soviet Republic of Uzbekistan and the Islamic Republic of Iran. - ZimOnline

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