Harare | Monday
THE charge under Zimbabwe’s new media laws against journalist Peta Thornycroft who was arrested in the eastern highlands of Zimbabwe this week cannot go to court and is without foundation, lawyers said on Monday.
Thornycroft, who is British-born but holds Zimbabwean citizenship, was arrested while going to Chimanimani to investigate reports of violence against opposition supporters in the wake of the March presidential elections.
She was released on Sunday night after being charged with violating the new media laws. Her lawyers are requesting the state drop the charge.
In terms of the new laws promulgated on March 15, all journalists working in the country have to be accredited with the state but there is a grace period, although the length of it is ambiguous.
A section of the legislation states that journalists who were working in the country prior to the new law have a three-month period before accreditation with government is required.
But another section states that journalists may continue working up to December 31 after which they must have government accreditation, lawyer Tapiwanashe Kujinga said.
”It is a very vague act and a very dangerous piece of legislation in that whatever interpretation is put on some sections it can go either way,” he said.
In either case, as it is only two weeks after the Act came into effect Thornycroft cannot be in violation of it.
Thornycroft, who also holds a South African residence permit, is a correspondent for this website’s print publication, the Mail & Guardian. She is also a correspondent for the business daily, Business Day and the British Daily The Telegraph.
Thornycroft said she had been treated ”professionally” while in police custody.
”They treated me professionally, except for two CIO (Central Intelligence Organisation) officers in Chimanimani who were extremely rude,” she said.
Asked to clarify the charges she is facing, Thornycroft said: ”I honestly don’t understand the charges.”
Initially she was charged with ”publishing false statements likely to be prejudicial to state security” and ”incitement to public violence” under the country’s new security laws.
But later her paper said she faced less serious charges of operating illegally as a journalist in violation of the new press law and another charge of flouting vehicle registration regulations.
”There is no freedom of association in Zimbabwe. If they see you talking to someone they don’t like, then they arrest you,” she charged.
On the day of her arrest in Chimanimani she was investigating reports that the houses of MDC supporters who acted as polling agents in the recent presidential election had been burned down and that they had been threatened with death if they did not leave the area.
The MDC has accused Zanu-PF militias of engaging in violent attacks of retribution against its supporters for opposing President Robert Mugabe in the March 9-11 presidential election.
The MDC last week said the militias had destroyed the homes of at least six of its polling agents in the central district of Gokwe during and after the election. ”MDC polling agents are living in fear following threats on their lives by Zanu-PF militia and war veterans. Many of the polling agents are no longer sleeping at their homes at night,” the MDC said. – Sapa