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Arrested journalist still in police custody
MISA-Zimbabwe
Janaury 20, 2006

Sydney Saize, a journalist with the banned Daily News, who was arrested on 18 January 2006, is still in police custody at Mutare Central Police Station. He is being charged under the Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act (AIPPA) and Public Order and Security Act (POSA).

Charges against Saize arose from a story that the police say was broadcast on Voice of America programme Studio 7 and which they are linking to Saize. Saize’s lawyer Innocent Gonese, who has taken over from Trust Maanda, informed MISA-Zimbabwe that the police allege Saize wrote a false story for VOA alleging that war veterans and youths from the National Training Camps had beaten some teachers in Mutare in what could have been a politically motivated attack.

According to Gonese the police are proving difficult and refusing to take Saize to court. He adds that senior police officers at Mutare Central Police Station told him they have received orders from Harare, Zimbabwe’s capital, not to take Saize to court.

Late in the afternoon on Friday, Gonese said he was filing an urgent application with the Magistrates Court to order the police to take Saize to court.

Saize is being charged under Section 83 of AIPPA that criminalizes practising journalism without accreditation from the Media and Information Commission (MIC). Saize is, however, among a number of journalists from the Daily News who were denied accreditation by the government controlled MIC in 2003.

The second charge arises from the alleged violation of Section 15 of POSA, which deals with the publication of falsehoods and it carries a fine of $100 000 or a five year jail term or both such fine and jail term. Gonese can be reached on 00 263 (0) 11 231 253 or 00 263 (0) 91 213 253.

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