Tortured journalist Gift Phiri acquitted
By Lance Guma
31 August 2007

On Thursday journalist Gift Phiri was acquitted of contravening a section of the repressive Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act (AIPPA). Magistrate Stanley Chimedza ruled that the section used to charge Phiri was inappropriate for the alleged offence cited. Police initially arrested Phiri after raiding his home in Sunningdale, Harare and accused him of throwing petrol bombs alongside a group of opposition activists who were to later spend over 4 and 5 months in custody. The state later altered the charges to ‘practising without accreditation’ after claiming to have found two copies of the The Zimbabwean newspaper at his home with his articles in them.

Defence lawyer Beatrice Mtetwa told the court that Phiri was accredited for the 2006 calendar year, effectively pouring cold water on state claims that he practised as a journalist without accreditation since August 2006. She also argued that even if Phiri had written for The Zimbabwean newspaper, he had done so as a social commentator just like Media and Information Commission Chairperson Tafataona Mahoso and Nathaniel Manheru who write for the state media.

Phiri alleged that he was severely tortured in police custody and despite a court order issued in April this year the police never launched any investigation into the claims. In February last year Phiri was also attacked by a group of suspected state-sponsored thugs who accused him of working for foreign based radio stations.

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