Media lawyer scoops freedom prize

By Lance Guma
18 October 2005

The Committee to Protect Journalists has named Zimbabwean lawyer, Beatrice Mtetwa as one of the recipients of its International Press Freedom Awards. The CPJ said, "In a country where the law is used as a weapon... Mtetwa has defended journalists and argued for press freedom, at great personal risk." Other recipients include journalists from Brazil, China and Uzbekistan. The awards have been given to people who have had to endure beatings, threats and prison as a consequence of their work.

Mtetwa says she hopes the award will encourage the people she fights for to see that their suffering is not in vain. She concedes she has been very lucky with cases involving the media as the state often struggles to secure convictions. The award also came as a surprise to her as she did not think ‘some African woman in the battle beyond could get such an award.’

Major victories for her include the acquittal of journalists Toby Harnden and Julian Simmons of the Sunday Telegraph newspaper who were arrested during the March parliamentary elections this year. She won international acclaim after successfully obtaining a court order blocking the deportation of journalist Andrew Meldrum, a US citizen working in Zimbabwe for the Guardian newspaper. Police ignored the order, and abducted him all the same ensuring an illegal deportation. She also represented the banned Daily News in its quest to be allowed to publish.

Mtetwa has been arrested several times on trumped up charges and subjected to harassment and physical assault. She is also best known as a human rights lawyer representing members of the opposition and others being victimized by the ruling regime. Although skewed laws make her work harder she has persisted with championing the cause of the disadvantaged and this has attracted the wrath of authorities in Zimbabwe.

Many will remember how she represented previously jailed former MDC Chimanimani MP Roy Bennet in his long running legal battles with the government. She also represented Elias Mudzuri, the elected opposition mayor for Harare, disputing his dismissal by the local government ministry. Outcomes in these cases have usually been predetermined but she has always stated history will judge case records to see who was right.