US embassy cable - 02HARARE1117

UNCLAS HARARE 001117 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPT FOR AF/PD (COX AND ROBERTSON), AF/S (KRAFT AND 
SCHLACHTER), AF/RA (DIPALMA), INR/R/MR 
 
NSC FOR JENDAYI FRAZER 
 
LONDON FOR GURNEY 
 
PARIS FOR BISA WILLIAMS 
 
NAIROBI FOR PFLAUMER 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: ZI, PREL, PHUM 
SUBJECT: INDEPENDENT JOURNALISTS FACE TRIAL OVER 
"BEHEADING" STORY 
 
SENSITIVE BUT UNCLASSIFIED -- NOT FOR INTERNET POSTING 
 
1.   (U) A magistrate in Harare has ruled that two of the 
    three journalists arrested last week for violating the 
    Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act (AIPPA) 
    must stand trial.  American citizen Andrew Meldrum, local 
    correspondent for the "Guardian," and "Daily News" reporter 
    Lloyd Mudiwa are free on what amounts to a personal 
    recognizance bond (no bail), but will have to return to 
    court on May 22.  Mudiwa is accused of writing a false 
    story about a woman allegedly beheaded by ruling party 
    supporters.  Meldrum is charged with repeating the story in 
    the "Guardian."  Both acts are illegal under Section 80 (1) 
    b of the AIPPA.  The magistrate dismissed similar charges 
    against another "Daily News" reporter, Colin Chiwanza. 
 
2.   (U) In a related development, on May 7 "Daily News" 
    columnist Pius Wakatama was detained and questioned by 
    police in connection with an opinion piece he wrote about 
    the alleged beheading.  Wakatama was "warned and cautioned" 
    and released on his own recognizance.  He will likely have 
    to appear in court later this month on charges of violating 
    AIPPA. 
 
3.   (U) One of the laws being used against journalists, 
    AIPPA (the other is the Public Order and Security Act -- 
    POSA), faces a legal challenge.  Jan Raath (correspondent 
    for Times Group of Newspapers of London, South Press 
    Association and Newsweek), Andrew Meldrum (The Guardian) 
    and Peta Thornycroft (Daily Telegraph) have filed a suit 
    that seeks to have certain sections of the AIPPA declared 
    unconstitutional. 
 
4.   (SBU) Comment: This flurry of legal activity is 
    symptomatic of the continuing pressure the Government of 
    Zimbabwe is bringing to bear against the privately owned 
    and international media.  The draconian AIPPA and POSA give 
    the GoZ a remarkably broad array of options for harassing 
    and intimidating the media.  In interviews and opinion 
    pieces over the May 3-5 weekend, Minister Moyo made clear 
    his attitude toward independent journalists and his 
    intention to bring them into conformity with his view of 
    the appropriate role of the media.  In a television 
    interview, Minister Moyo said that the people arrested in 
    connection with the "beheading" story were "criminals," not 
    journalists.  He went on to say that the government's 
    action in this case offered proof that Zimbabwe is 
    determined to apply the rule of law "even to Americans." 
 
5.   (SBU) Comment continued: Government-owned May 3-5 
    weekend newspapers were full of news reports and opinion 
    pieces supporting Minister Moyo's Orwellian view of press 
    freedom.  News articles about police investigations into 
    "false" stories were joined by opinion pieces calling for 
    the ban of independent newspapers.  If we were more 
    cynical, we would suspect Minister Moyo of colluding with 
    the US-based Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) to 
    provide concrete evidence of CPJ's May 3 assessment that 
    Zimbabwe is one of the world's 10 worst places to be a 
    journalist.  End comment. 
 
SULLIVAN