Harare | Tuesday
THE editor of Zimbabwe’s only independent daily newspaper has been arrested over a story published about last month’s controversial elections won by President Robert Mugabe, his lawyer said.
Three officers from the criminal investigation department of the police took Daily News editor-in-chief Geoff Nyarota from his office on charges of falsifying and fabricating information, a criminal offence under Zimbabwe’s new information law.
The offence carries a maximum penalty of 100 000 Zimbabwe dollars ($1 800) or a two-year jail term.
Nyarota was released three hours later after making a statement to the police, said his lawyer Lawrence Chibwe. He also denied the charge, Chibwe said.
Meanwhile, a journalist with the weekly Zimbabwe Independent was arrested and released some three hours later after being charged with criminal defamation.
The charge faced by Dumisani Muleya arises from a story on Friday alleging that President Ribert Mugabe’s wife, Grace, was involved in a bid to take over a local spice and herb manufacturing firm along with a man whose surname is similar to the first lady’s maiden surname.
The story for which Nyarota was arrested accused the country’s chief election organiser, Registrar General Tobaiwa Mudede, of manipulating the results from the March 9-11 election.
Mudede has denied doctoring the results which gave Mugabe victory over his main rival Morgan Tsvangirai, leader of the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC).
Mugabe enacted the new media law, which imposes strict limits on independent and foreign journalists and gives the government broad powers to regulate the media, days after his controversial re-election last month.
Last month, Information Minister Jonathan Moyo wrote to Nyarota, asking him to correct “falsehoods” or face legal action over a story on international calls for fresh presidential elections in Zimbabwe.
But Nyarota refused to retract the story, arguing that it was accurate.
“I would rather go to jail, if it pleases the honourable minister, than be forced by him to publicly correct a story that is 100% correct,” Nyarota said in the Daily News.
Chibwe said it was now up to the police to issue a summons for Nyarota to appear in court if they decided there was a case for him to answer.
Nyarota (50) has received death threats and been arrested at least five times since founding the independent paper in 1999. The paper’s offices and its printing plant have been damaged in bomb explosions but it has survived as a mass circulation daily to compete against the government’s daily, The Herald. – AFP
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