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ZIMBABWE:
Voice of the People director arrested; three others freed
Committee
to Protect Journalists (CPJ)
December 19, 2005
http://www.cpj.org/news/2005/Zim19dec05na.html
New York —Three
staff members of the independent news production company Voice of
the People (VOP) were released this morning after three days in jail,
but VOP Director John Masuku was detained and could be charged with broadcasting
without a license, local sources told the Committee to Protect Journalists.
The broadcast charge carries a penalty of up to two years in jail.
VOP staffers Maria Nyanyiwa, Nyasha Bosha, and Kundai Mugwanda were detained
on Thursday when police came to VOP offices in the capital, Harare, looking
for broadcasting and transmitting equipment. Although police did not find
such equipment, they confiscated computers, files, and other gear, according
to local sources.
VOP staffers produce programs on a variety of community and political
issues but do not broadcast directly within Zimbabwe. The programming
is transmitted via shortwave from overseas; its broadcasts were recently
scrambled within Zimbabwe, according to local sources.
The three staffers appeared in a Harare magistrate's court this morning,
where they were charged with contravening Section 27 of the Broadcasting
Services Act, which prohibits possession or use of radio transmission
equipment without a license, according to Zimbabwean Lawyers for Human
Rights (ZLHR), which represented them. But the chief prosecuting officer
refused to keep them in custody, saying there was no evidence against
them, ZLHR director Arnold Tsunga told CPJ. Such a position makes it unlikely
the three will be brought to trial unless the police bring new evidence,
another human rights lawyer told CPJ.
Masuku went voluntarily to a Harare police station this morning, along
with VOP Chairman David Masunda and lawyer Rangu Nyamurundira, Tsunga
said. The other human rights lawyer said he expects that Masuku will appear
in court later this week. Masunda was not held.
"John Masuku should be released immediately and the government should
stop its harassment of Voice of the People staff," CPJ Executive Director
Ann Cooper said.
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