Journalists out of custody

By Tichaona Sibanda
7 April 2008

The two foreign journalists arrested last week for allegedly covering the country’s general elections without official accreditation, were granted bail on Monday after being charged by the police.

New York Times correspondent Barry Bearak and a British reporter were asked to pay bail of Z$300 million each. Their lawyer Harrison Nkomo said the Briton was ordered to reside at the British Embassy and the American was ordered to stay at Dandaro Clinic, because he fell in the cells and sustained injuries and so needs medical attention.

Earlier on Monday Harare lawyer Beatrice Mtetwa had said three judges declined to hear the journalists application for release and she was looking for another judge to hear the case. Police had arrested the journalists at their hotel on Thursday night last week.

Two South African television technicians also arrested last week, were formally charged with defeating the ends of justice in an Harare court on Monday. Reports say the two men are unwell.
According to the brother of one of the men, Abdulla Gaibee and Sipho Maseko had been waiting to hear if their application to the High Court for their release from illegal detention would be heard, when they were summoned to the magistrate’s court.

Gaibee has been sleeping on the floor which has given him bronchitis and for the past two days he has also been kept in isolation. Maseko is a diabetic who has now been hospitalised for his dangerously high blood sugar levels.

‘They were taken to the magistrate’s court and formally charged with defeating the ends of justice...in colluding with other parties for their acquittals,’ Gaibee’s brother told journalists in Harare. The men were in Zimbabwe under the employ of Globecast, which had been providing satellite services to some broadcasters covering the elections. Globecast have said the men received the necessary accreditation to work in Zimbabwe.

The Zimbabwe Exiles Forum on Monday strongly condemned the crackdown on foreign media and opponents of Robert Mugabe by security forces. Annah Moyo, a project lawyer with the ZEF, told us they were deeply concerned that these were the first steps in Mugabe’s response to the results of the vote. ‘The international community has to take immediate steps to prevent Mugabe from subverting the will of Zimbabwe’s electorate and from resorting to further repression and violence,’ Moyo said.

She added that South Africa and it’s fellow members of the Southern African Development Committee should not stand by in silence. She said that SADC and the international community, including the United Nations Security Council, must condemn this crackdown and take all necessary measures to prevent the Mugabe regime from further violating the rights of the people of Zimbabwe.