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Zimbabwe: Laws used to "criminalise journalism", minister

HARARE: A senior Zimbabwean government official has admitted that laws passed by the previous administration were still being used to "criminalise journalism" and needed to be changed, after two more journalists were arrested earlier this week.

13 May 2009

[Zimbabwe] There are few remaining independent newspapers in Zimbabwe. © IRIN

"The developments are really unfortunate, in the sense that we still have clauses in our statutes which are used to arrest journalists and criminalise journalism, and hence infringe on media freedom and freedom of expression," Jameson Timba, the deputy minister of media, information and publicity, told IRIN. Timba is from the main faction of the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) the former opposition party.

Vincent Kahiya, editor of the Zimbabwe Independent newspaper, and Constantine Chimakure, the newspaper's news editor, were arrested on 11 May, 2009 for publishing an article that fingered intelligence and police officers allegedly involved in the abduction of journalist and human rights activist, Jestina Mukoko, and members of the MDC in late 2008.

Read the full article on IRIN.