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Trial of journalists continues
MISA-Zimbabwe
April 06, 2005

The trial of two British journalists being held in Harare continued today with the State leading evidence from an election observer who was posted at a polling station outside Harare where the accused were arrested.

Julian Simmonds and Toby Harden of the London Sunday Telegraph are accused of violating the Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act (AIPPA) and the Immigration Act.

The two were arrested on 31 March 2005 outside a polling station in Norton during Zimbabwe’s parliamentary elections.

They have pleaded not guilty to the charges arguing that they were in Zimbabwe as tourists.

Alice Maigurira, an observer accredited with the Zimbabwe Council of Churches, told the court in Norton of how she had approached the two as they took photographs at the polling station.

She alleged that the two had allegedly confirmed they were journalists.

If convicted, the two risk spending two years in jail or alternatively or fine or both imprisonment and a fine for covering the elections without official accreditation from the Media and Information Commission (MIC) in terms of AIPPA.

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