A British TV crew was ordered out of Zimbabwe on Thursday night after government officials claimed it had entered illegally.
Foreign journalists are strictly controlled by Zimbabwe, and officials said the two-man crew from Sky television had ”arrogantly” flown in without government authority or clearance from Zimbabwe’s mission in London.
On Thursday night the information minister, Jonathan Moyo, said: ”What makes the conduct of this crew appear deliberately contemptuous and thus reprehensible is the fact that before leaving Britain, the crew actually received a clear response from the department [of information] outlining the government position and expectation before its proposed visit.
”Accordingly, the department requires that forthwith, the Sky News crew complies with our national laws … including the requirement that foreign media applicants secure permission to fly into the country for purposes of accreditation from their country of origin and work.
”Failure to comply would, naturally, trigger a decisive response from agencies whose duty it is to uphold the rule of law in the country,” he added.
Sky denied it had tried to deceive the authorities, and said it had believed it had clearance to send a two-man crew from Johannesburg to film a cricket-related story.
”We are not sure that we are being thrown out. We are just waiting to hear from the government to clarify what their attitude is. We are a bit surprised,” said Sky’s head of foreign news, Adrian Wells, in London.
Moyo and officials from his office were unavailable for further comment on where the Sky News team was and how many people it included.
Relations with British media have been worsening for some time with many journalists, including The Guardian’s Andrew Meldrum, being exiled from Zimbabwe after falling foul of the draconian media laws under President Robert Mugabe’s regime.
Meanwhile, the government said an Eton-educated former British army officer faces extradition to Equatorial Guinea for his part in an alleged plot to overthrow the West African country’s government.
Simon Mann, who has South African citizenship, is accused of being the ringleader of 70 alleged mercenaries who face extradition following a meeting held between Guinea’s president, Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo, and Mugabe on Thursday. An announcement by the Zimbabwean foreign affairs minister was expected.
Earlier this week Zimbabwe signed a treaty with Equatorial Guinea to enable the men, mostly South Africans, Angolans and Namibians, to be sent to Equatorial Guinea, where they may be sentenced to death.
They were detained on March 7 at Harare airport and their chartered Boeing 737 was impounded.
The Zimbabwe government charged them with plotting to buy arms in Harare before flying on to Guinea to topple the government.
Equatorial Guinea, criticised by rights groups for practising torture, says it detained an advance party of 20 mercenaries. It has shown one of the alleged leaders publicly confessing to the plot.
The men arrested in Zimbabwe have been charged under stringent public order and security laws, and with immigration, firearms and aviation offences. State lawyers have said these men could be jailed for life, but defence lawyers say the maximum penalty would be a fine of 200 000 Zimbabwe dollars (about R25) on each charge.
Some of the men say that they were tortured into signing confessions and on Tuesday a magistrate ordered an inquiry.
Twelve prison officers have been charged with assaulting and injuring some defendants.
Defence lawyers say that the men landed in Harare only to refuel and pick up essential equipment on their way to the Democratic Republic of Congo to provide mine security. They have asked the court to dismiss the case.
Zimbabwe accuses Mann of trying to procure weapons from the state arms company to stage a coup. He said in court that he had been tortured into incriminating himself. – Guardian Unlimited Â