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Botswana journalists' bid for freedom fails
ZimOnline
September 07, 2006

http://www.zimonline.co.za/headdetail.asp?ID=12793

PLUMTREE - Two Botswana journalists accused of violating Zimbabwe's tough media and immigration laws will face trial in November after their application to have the case dismissed failed.

The two, Beauty Mokoba and Keketso Seofela, had argued that they qualified for "sovereign immunity" as they had been arrested while working on a project on behalf of the government of Botswana.

Plumtree magistrate, Mark Dziva, dismissed the application and remanded the two journalists who work for Botswana Television (Btv) to November 7 for trial.

A lawyer representing the journalists, Kucaca Phulu, immediately attacked the ruling saying the magistrate had erred in arriving at the verdict as his clients had not applied for "diplomatic immunity" as hinted by the magistrate.

"The magistrate dismissed my client's application after arguing that the two journalists were not employed by the Botswana embassy and did not therefore qualify for diplomatic immunity but the application by my clients was for a discharge on sovereign immunity and not diplomatic immunity," Phulu said.

The two journalists were arrested last May in Plumtree near the Botswana border after they entered the country to cover a story on the outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease and suspected cases of cattle rustling between the two countries.

They are being charged with violating the tough Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act (AIPPA) which bars journalists from practising their profession without first seeking accreditation from the state's Media and Information Commission.

If convicted, the journalists who are out on Z$4 million bail, face up to two years in jail or a fine of $20 000 or both. - ZimOnline

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