/ 3 March 1999

ZIM JOURNOS CAN TRAVEL TO UK

THE Harare High Court rejected an attempt on Tuesday by Zimbabwean state prosecutors to prevent two journalists from travelling to Britain. Standard newspaper editor Mark Chavunduka and reporter Ray Choto are now free to take up an offer by Amnesty International to sponsor their trip for specialist treatment of torture-induced stress, the paper’s managing director, Clive Wilson, said. The two men claimed they were tortured while in military detention in January for reporting on a foiled coup plot to unseat President Robert Mugabe. A magistrate last week varied the journalists’ bail conditions to allow them to leave the country but prosecutors appealed against the decision.

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