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This article participates on the following special index pages:
Citizenship issues
IPI
condemns Zimbabwean government's latest attempt to strip publisher
of citizenship
International
Press Institute (IPI)
January 04, 2007
http://www.freemedia.at/cms/ipi/statements_detail.html?ctxid=CH0055&docid=CMS1167905525603
According to
information provided to the International Press Institute (IPI),
Trevor Ncube, the publisher of the privately owned Zimbabwe Independent
and Zimbabwe Standard, is facing renewed attempts to deny him Zimbabwean
citizenship.
At present,
Ncube is seeking a High Court order compelling the government to
renew his application for citizenship after it was initially withdrawn.
In the pleadings, Ncube argues that he is automatically entitled
to citizenship because he has never held the passport of another
country and by virtue of the fact that his father, who was born
in Zambia, was also a Zimbabwean. The government contends that Ncube's
failure to renounce Zambian citizenship has led, under law, to the
loss of his citizenship.
This is not
the first time that Ncube has faced attempts to strip him of his
citizenship. On 8 December 2005, a plainclothes officer of the Zimbabwean
Central Intelligence Organisation (CIO) confiscated Ncube's
passport. At the time, he was told that his passport was seized
because his name appears on a list of 64 prominent businessmen,
journalists, politicians, and activists.
Commenting on
the case, IPI Director Johann P. Fritz said, "The attempt by
the Zimbabwean government to strip Trevor Ncube of his nationality
is a flagrant breach of customary international law under Article
15 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which clearly states
that no one shall be arbitrarily deprived of his nationality.
"By acting
this way, the government is clearly seeking to build the foundations
for an assault on Ncube's newspapers that remain some of the
last remaining forums for open and critical debate inside Zimbabwe."
"This government
appears determined to ensure that the only voice heard in Zimbabwe
is its own. However, such a determination not only undermines all
pretence at democracy in the country, it also displays a misunderstanding
of the important role played by dissent and criticism," Fritz
added.
"With each
media organisation closed, with each journalist constrained from
practicing his profession, the Zimbabwean government is further
isolating itself from debates and discussions that need to take
place within a modern society."
"I sincerely
hope that the Zimbabwean courts, which in the past have shown a
willingness to resist the actions of this present government, reject
this latest cynical and presumptuous attempt to manipulate the rule
of law in order to silence dissenters."
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