Zimbabwe ruling puts free press under threat

Zimbabwe’s highest court threw out a constitutional challenge to the country’s sweeping media laws today, making it a criminal offence to work as a journalist without a licence.

The ruling immediately put the only independent daily newspaper, which is not licensed, at risk of being shut down and having journalists working on its Friday edition arrested.

The Supreme Court ruling effectively put journalists under the direct control of the government with a penalty of up to two years in jail for infringements of laws enforced by the Information Ministry and the state-appointed media commission, said attorney Sternford Moyo, representing the Independent Journalists Association of Zimbabwe.

The Access to Information Act requires journalists to be licensed by the state Media and Information Commission.

Those working without a licence now face arrest, trial and imprisonment without the option of appealing on constitutional grounds.

The Supreme Court on November 21, 2002, heard the challenge by the Independent Journalists Association that argued the media laws violated constitutional rights of free expression.

Moyo said today’s ruling upheld the role of the state commission.

The court ruled “the practice of journalism was of fundamental importance in a democratic society but this should not place journalists outside regulatory control”, Moyo said.

The Supreme Court reserved judgment in a second case where the state commission was asking it to shut down the Daily News.

The newspaper reopened on January 22 after lengthy legal battle to remove police from its offices and printing factory.

The government banned the paper in September and police blockaded its premises after the commission refused to license it.

The Daily News owners said executives were meeting late today to decide whether to bring out the paper tomorrow.

Staff working on the next edition were the first to face arrest under the new Supreme Court ruling.

The paper had become a platform for dissent against the rule of President Robert Mugabe.

Mugabe’s government has sought to crack down on dissent since his disputed re-election in 2002.