Zimbabwe police seize newspaper equipment

POLICE seized computers and other equipment yesterday from Zimbabwe’s only independent daily newspaper, which was shut down last week for failing to register under sweeping media laws.

The closing of the Daily News comes amid a government crackdown on dissent as Zimbabwe struggles with an economic collapse and international isolation.

President Robert Mugabe pushed through a passage of severe new security laws last year allowing the government to ban public gatherings, and his opponents have been attacked and arrested.

In Washington, the United States urged Zimbabwe’s government on Monday to allow the Daily News and the Daily News on Sunday to resume publishing.

But detectives, security agents and reinforcements of armed paramilitary and riot police in jeeps closed the street outside the entrance lobby of the newspaper yesterday morning.

The police started dismantling computers and photographic equipment, said Sam Sipepa Nkomo, chief executive of the independent Associated Newspapers group, the newspaper’s publisher.

The Supreme Court ruled last week that The Daily News broke the law by not registering under the stringent Access to Information Act and was acting illegally.

On Monday, the Daily News filed for accreditation with the state media commission. Previously the paper’s executives had balked at applying for accreditation, saying the new media laws were an effort to stifle independent and foreign journalists and news organisations.