Armed police in Zimbabwe on Friday shut down the offices of the country’s only independent daily newspaper, a day after a court said the paper was operating illegally, a lawyer for the paper said.
The lawyer said the Daily News offices are under under heavy police guard.
”They’ve shut down the offices. They’ve said there should be no production tomorrow,” he said.
”We don’t know what they’re acting on. We have not seen what charges the paper is facing,” he added.
Makoni said the paper’s editor Nqobile Nyathi, as well as the production manager had to report to Harare’s main police station to make statements before being released.
The police action came one day after the country’s Supreme Court ruled that the outspoken paper was operating in ”defiance of the law” because it had not registered with a government commission.
Under Zimbabwe’s controversial Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act (AIPPA) all news organisations have to be registered with the government’s Media and Information Commission (MIC).
The Daily News had challenged the law saying it was unconstitutional.
Around 20 police officers, some armed with rifles, walked through the paper’s offices ordering everyone out of the building, a reporter for the paper, who requested anonymity.
Four police vehicles arrived at the paper’s central Harare offices early on Friday evening, the reporter said, adding: ”They are walking through the offices and telling people to leave.”
Police spokesperson Wayne Bvudzijena could not immediately provide details on the police action when asked to comment on the operation.
The paper is no stranger to brushes with state agents. Since it was founded four years ago its former editor and several staff members have been arrested on various charges.
There have also been two unexplained explosions at the paper, one of which destroyed its printing presses in 2001.
The head of the government media commission had hinted that action might be taken against the paper following Thursday’s court ruling.
The state-owned Herald newspaper said on Friday that the commission’s chairperson, Tafataona Mahoso, would meet Information Minister Jonathan Moyo ”to see what steps to take against those who defy the law”. – Sapa-AFP