Zim: AG ordered arrest of journalists

  1. Posted on Thursday 14 May 2009 - 15:35
    bruce
    Bruce Sibanda, AfricaNews reporter in Harare, Zimbabwe
    The two Zimbabwean journalists arrested on Monday were detained on the orders of the Attorney-General, Johannes Tomana, the Minister of Home Affairs Giles Mutsekwa has revealed. Mutsekwa's revelation is contained in the Parliamentary Hansard in response to a Member of the House of Assembly, Blessing Chebundo's inquiry.
    opposition_MDC_rally_zimbabwe17
    Mutsekwa said Tomana had admitted to him that he gave orders for the arrest of the Zimbabwe Independent editor Vincent Kahiya and his news editor Constantine Chimakure.

    He said: "The two were arrested on instruction from the Ministry of Justice and the
    Attorney General in particular. I have asked the AG to put it in writing
    and I will take up the matter with my colleague, the Minister of Justice."

    In 2000, Tomana once represented Chimakure after been arrested for writing stories on farm invasions. Tomana has the backing of President Robert Mugabe who has repeatedly rejected demands by Morgan Tsvangirai and Mutambara to fire him together with Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) Governor Gideon Gono.

    The two scribes were arrested for publishing a story last Friday naming state agents who allegedly tortured human rights defenders and members of the MDC last year. They were released on Tuesday after paying US$200 bail each and were ordered to return to court on May 28.

    Mutsekwa said he is against journalists getting detained for simply doing their job. "It paints the inclusive government in the worst possible light. I am disappointed." He added that there are "excited elements" in the police for orchestrating the arrest.

    Journalists in Zimbabwe have roundly condemned the government's obsessive hounding of the two journalists working for one of the few remaining independent Harare-based publications.

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