Zimbabwe: Letter to President Robert Mugabe

IFEX - News from the international freedom of expression community
> _________________________________________________________________
>
> ACTION ALERT UPDATE - ZIMBABWE
>
> 15 July 2002
>
> Correspondent from "The Guardian" found not guilty of publishing
falsehoods
> but served deportation order
>
> SOURCE: International Press Institute (IPI), Vienna
>
> **Updates IFEX alerts of 3 July, 19, 13 and 3 June, 22, 8, 7, 3 and 2 May
> 2002**
>
> (IPI/IFEX) - The following is an IPI Watch List protest to the government
of
> Zimbabwe:
>
> His Excellency President Robert Mugabe
> Office of the President
> Causeway, Harare
> Zimbabwe
>
> Fax: + 263 4 728 799 / 708 820 / 734 644
>
> Vienna, 15 July 2002
>
> Your Excellency,
>
> The International Press Institute (IPI), the global network of editors,
> leading journalists and media executives, is deeply disturbed by the
> decision of the government to deport the Zimbabwe correspondent for the
> British newspaper, The Guardian.
>
> On the basis of information provided to IPI, on 15 July, Andrew Meldrum, a
> United States citizen who has lived in Zimbabwe for over 20 years and who
> holds a permanent residency permit, was informed by the Department of
> Immigration that he must leave the country within 24 hours. "The
Department
> of Immigration has come and said he must leave the country... They gave us
> no reasons", said Beatrice Mtetwa, a lawyer for Meldrum.
>
> The decision came shortly after Meldrum was found not guilty by a Harare
> court of publishing falsehoods under the harsh Access to Information and
> Privacy Act. Meldrum was prosecuted under the act for publishing a false
> story that Zanu-PF supporters had decapitated a woman in a rural district
of
> Zimbabwe. The story was first published in the independent Daily News,
which
> promptly apologised upon discovering it was untrue. However, the story was
> printed in The Guardian on 24 April. As a result, Meldrum was arrested on
1
> May and interrogated by police.
>
> Commenting on the revocation of his permanent residency permit, Meldrum
said
> to Reuters, "This is consistent with a government that is trying to stop
me
> from reporting what is going on here. I'm trying to see what I can do and
I
> will consult my lawyer right now."
>
> Regarding the deportation, it is clear that Your Excellency's government
had
> already decided to take the law into its own hands. Indeed, it appears
that
> the deportation order had already been signed on 3 July. A fact which
> reveals the government's profound contempt for the Zimbabwean legal system
> because, irrespective of the decision of the court, it had already decided
> to deport Meldrum. IPI is appalled by this decision and believes it has
> serious implications for press freedom in Zimbabwe.
>
> By seeking to deport Meldrum, the government of Zimbabwe is indicating
that
> it stands outside the rule of law. Meldrum was arrested for an offence and
> has been found innocent after a trial, however, this has not saved him
from
> being found guilty by the state. In deciding to act in this manner, the
> government has shorn itself of the last vestiges of democratic behaviour
and
> rightly stands condemned.
>
> Concerning the future of the Access to Information and Privacy Act, IPI
> believes that the decision of the court means that it is irrevocably
> tarnished and should be removed from the statute books. IPI notes the
> statement of Judge Godfrey Macheyo who said, "He (Meldrum) acted like a
> reasonable journalist and tried to verify the story. He tried to contact
the
> police, who could not confirm the story to him. It cannot reasonably be
said
> that he had a guilty intention." It is the strong belief of IPI that the
> other prosecutions under this discredited law should be discontinued.
>
> With the above in mind, IPI invites Your Excellency to rescind the
decision
> to deport Meldrum and remove the Access to Information and Privacy Act
from
> the statute books. By doing so you will be upholding freedom of the press
> and freedom of expression.
>
> Best regards,
>
> Johann P. Fritz
> Director
>
> Background note:
>
> Zimbabwe was placed on the IPI Watch List on 20 October 2001. In its press
> release IPI said, "[It"> is deeply concerned at attempts to extinguish
press
> freedom in the country against a background of government support for this
> activity and a reluctance to prosecute offenders, restrictions imposed, or
contemplated, by the government on the media, and the breakdown of the
rule of law."

RECOMMENDED ACTION:

Similar appeals can be sent to:
His Excellency President Robert Mugabe
Office of the President
Causeway, Harare
Zimbabwe
Fax: +263 4 728 799 / 708 820 / 734 644

Please copy appeals to the source if possible.

For further inquiries on Zimbabwe, please contact David Dadge of the IPI Secretariat, tel: +43 1 512 90 11. For information on the IPI Watch List
or for IPI's most recent report on Zimbabwe, please visit the IPI Website: www.freemedia.at
The information contained in this action alert update is the sole
responsibility of IPI. In citing this material for broadcast or
publication,
please credit IPI.
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