Journalists from three banned newspapers would not be able to find work under a government proposal to tighten a section of Zimbabwe’s sweeping media laws, an alliance of pro-democracy groups warned on Wednesday.
The Crisis in Zimbabwe Coalition said such a move would be another blow to press freedom in the troubled southern African country, and appealed to the government to ”desist from making laws that confirm local and international perceptions that Zimbabwe has become a full-fledged dictatorship”.
A government notice published on Friday proposes that journalists who continue to work while suspended by the state-appointed media commission be fined and jailed for up to two years, the coalition said in a statement.
More than 100 journalists effectively had their government accreditation suspended when the state Media and Information Commission shut down their newspapers earlier this year as part of a media crackdown.
Government officials did not immediately respond to the statement. Parliament, which is overwhelmingly dominated by the ruling Zanu-PF party, is expected to approve the amendment in coming weeks.
The same penalties already apply to journalists working without having applied for a licence or whose applications have been denied.
President Robert Mugabe’s government, faced with a spiralling political and economic crisis, shut down the country’s only independent daily newspaper, the Daily News, and its Sunday edition in February after a long legal battle.
Earlier this month, the independent weekly Tribune newspaper was suspended from publishing for a year for allegedly operating without a valid registration certificate.
The coalition said the proposed amendment was ”meant to stop journalists from these media houses from practicing”.
”It is disheartening to note that after the closure of these newspapers, the government continues on its war path against freedom of expression by criminalising the journalism profession,” it said.
The independent papers had been a platform for dissent against Mugabe’s increasingly authoritarian rule.
Senior officials called independent journalists ”traitors” for reporting on the country’s political and economic woes. They have also accused former colonial ruler Britain of bankrolling independent newspapers and opposition leaders.
Since the media laws were enforced in March 2002, 31 independent journalists have been arrested and charged for alleged violations.
But no journalists from the five main state-run newspapers, or the national radio and television stations, have been arrested, despite abuses by some reporters, according to the coalition.
The latest newspaper closure has brought international condemnation.
The European Union, in a statement issued on Tuesday in Brussels, called the Tribune’s suspension ”a further attack on freedom of expression and democratic space” in Zimbabwe.
”This is of particular importance in the context of approaching elections, a free press being a necessary prerequisite of a democratic society,” it said. — Sapa-AP