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Journalist
arrested for taking pictures of queues for basic commodities
MISA-Zimbabwe
August 25, 2008
Police in the Midlands
town of Gweru on 21 August 2008 arrested Rutendo Mawere a correspondent
with The Standard privately owned weekly newspaper after she took
pictures of a crowd that included soldiers and policemen queuing
for basic commodities in the city.
Mawere was arrested
by a plainclothes policewoman identified as Million outside a shop
which was selling cooking oil and laundry soap. She was taken to
Gweru Central Police Station and questioned on why she had taken
the pictures by officers from the Law and Order Section. Mawere
who is duly accredited as a journalist in terms of the repressive
Access to Information
and Protection of Privacy Act (AIPPA) was released without being
charged after being questioned for about an hour. The officers who
were led by Assistant Inspector Mudzawa, accused her of taking the
pictures so that she could write that the police and soldiers "always
loot basic commodities".
MISA-Zimbabwe
position
MISA-Zimbabwe condemns
the incident as a serious violation of the 1991 Windhoek Declaration
which stipulates that members states, Zimbabwe included, should
work towards the creation of an environment in which the media enjoys
freedom of expression, independence from political, economic and
commercial interests, pluralism of views and opinions.
Davison Maruziva, the
editor of The Standard who described the conduct of the police as
"most unfortunate and totally unnecessary", said the
incident demonstrated the hostility of law enforcement agents towards
journalists working for the private media. "The arrest just
goes to show that there is no let up in the police harassment of
our journalists. It is ironic that this should be taking place against
the backdrop of the talks by the major political parties in the
country," said Maruziva.
The regional
chairperson of the National
Association of Non-Governmental Organisations Peter Muchengeti
condemned the continued harassment of journalists in Zimbabwe.
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