US embassy cable - 02HARARE1192

UNCLAS HARARE 001192 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPT FOR AF/PD (COX AND ROBERTSON), AF/S (KRAFT AND 
SCHLACHTER), AF/RA (DIPALMA), NSC FOR JENDAYI FRAZER 
 
LONDON FOR GURNEY 
 
PARIS FOR BISA WILLIAMS 
 
NAIROBI FOR PFLAUMER 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: ZI, PREL, PHUM, Media and Communications 
SUBJECT: JOURNALISTS FACE CHARGES AS SUPREME COURT SAYS 
CONSTITITUIONAL CHALLENGE NOT URGENT 
 
 
1.   On May 16 the Zimbabwe Supreme Court ruled that a 
    suit challenging the constitutionality of the Access to 
    Information and Protection of Privacy Act (AIPPA) is 
    not urgent.  This means that the Supreme Court will not 
    take immediate action on the suit, and the journalists 
    such as US citizen Andrew Meldrum will face AIPPA- 
    related criminal proceedings before the 
    constitutionality of the Act is decided. 
 
2.   On May 8 three journalists working in Zimbabwe for 
    international media organizations -- Andrew Meldrum, 
    Jan Raath, and Peta Thornycroft -- filed a 
    constitutional challenge to sections of the AIPPA. 
    Relying in part on testimony from Information Minister 
    Jonathan Moyo, the Supreme Court ruled that the 
    journalists' ability to report was not immediately 
    threatened and that, therefore, there was no urgency to 
    the case.  The Supreme Court will hear the case 
    sometime later in 2002. 
 
3.   Andrew Meldrum, meanwhile, will appear in court on 
    May 22 to answer charges that he violated Section 
    80.1.B of AIPPA ("abusing journalistic privilege by 
    publishing falsehoods") when he filed a story alleging 
    that a woman had been beheaded by ruling party 
    supporters.  "Daily News" reporter Lloyd Mudiwa will 
    also appear in court on May 22, facing the same charge. 
 
4.   Three journalists from the independent weekly 
    "Standard" -- editor Bornwell Chakaodza and reporters 
    Fungayi Kanyuchi and Farai Mutsaka -- will appear in 
    court on June 3 to face charges that they also violated 
    AIPPA.  These three journalists were arrested on May 
    16, charged with "publishing falsehoods," and released 
    on May 17 on Z$10,000 each.  Their arrests came in the 
    wake of articles in the "Standard" about the 
    government's purchase of riot-control vehicles and 
    alleging instances of corruption within the police 
    force. 
 
5.   Zimbabwean reporters and editors, increasingly 
    under threat of being arrested and jailed for violating 
    AIPPA, take little comfort in the Supreme Court's 
    determination that journalists' ability to report is 
    not immediately threatened. 
 
SULLIVAN