US journalist Andrew Meldrum, acquitted of publishing falsehoods but told to leave Zimbabwe, on Wednesday was granted time to challenge his expulsion order before the Supreme Court.
The Zimbabwe High Court suspended the deportation order until Meldrum, who claims his rights have been violated, is heard by the constitutional court.
Justice Anele Matika said his order was ”final” and ”definitive” after the government’s lawyer Yvonne Dondo tried to argue that Meldrum should leave the country by Wednesday evening because he was a ”security risk”.
Meldrum, the correspondent for Britain’s Guardian newspaper, has lived in Zimbabwe for more than 20 years.
The first journalist to be tried under tough new media legislation, he was acquitted on Monday by a magistrate’s court following a high-profile trial, but minutes later immigration officials served him with a 24-hour expulsion order.
His lawyers said the order violated his constitutional rights and immediately applied for a suspension.
Matika on Tuesday granted a 24-hour reprieve until 5:00 pm (1500 GMT) Wednesday.
Meldrum’s lawyer Beatrice Mtetwa argued on Wednesday that his right to a fair hearing, as well as his freedom of movement and residence in the southern African country, had been violated by the expulsion order.
She charged that Home Affairs Minister John Nkomo was acting in ”bad faith” in respect of Meldrum’s rights.
In handing down his judgement, Matika said he was required to refer allegations of breached constitutional rights to the Supreme Court.
”My hands are tied,” he said, adding he was ”satisfied” claims that Meldrum’s constitutional rights had been violated were ”not frivolous or vexatious.”
The government argued on Wednesday that Meldrum did not enjoy ”absolute rights” under the constitution, as he is not a citizen and is also deemed a security risk.
”I cannot allow (Meldrum) to remain in the country beyond 5:00pm because such an extension would be detrimental to the security of the state,” Nkomo said in papers placed before Matika on Wednesday.
He added that Meldrum was ”deemed to be an undesirable inhabitant because among other reasons he was publishing stories outside the country which were intended to tarnish the image of the country.
”The applicant, being an alien, can be expelled from Zimbabwe,” Nkomo said, adding that the deportation order was ”reasonably justified in a democratic society.”
The charges against Meldrum stemmed from a false story first published in the local Daily News, and reproduced by The Guardian reporting that supporters of the ruling Zimbabwe African National Union – Patriotic Front (Zanu-PF) beheaded an opposition supporter in front of her children.
Both papers later retracted the story.
Under Zimbabwe’s immigration regulations, a non-citizen’s permanent residence permit can be cancelled at the stroke of a pen.
”The need to exclude the applicant immediately arises out of the security concerns,” lawyer Dondo argued.
But Mtetwa argued that if the minister had any sensitive information concerning the security risk he should have placed it before the judge.
Meldrum and some other foreign correspondents in Zimbabwe were last year branded as ”terrorists” by the state media.
Under the Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act (AIPPA), two foreign correspondents have already been expelled from the country in the past 18 months and a third was refused renewal of his work permit.
Critics say AIPPA is an attempt to muzzle the free press in Zimbabwe, which has been increasingly critical of President Robert Mugabe and alleged human rights abuses perpetrated by his supporters. – Sapa-AFP