Cablegate: Journalists Arrested Again

This record is a partial extract of the original cable. The full text of the original cable is not available.

UNCLAS HARARE 001243

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 NEARY

NAIROBI FOR PFLAUMER

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: ZI PREL PHUM
SUBJECT: JOURNALISTS ARRESTED AGAIN

1. On May 22 journalists from the independent weekly
"Standard" were arrested for the second time in one
week. Editor-in-Chief Bornwell Chakaodza and
entertainment editor Fungayi Kanyuchi were taken to the
Central Police Station and questioned for several
hours. They were eventually charged with violating
Section 13 of the Censorship and Entertainment Control
Act because of photographs of a prostitute published in
the May 12 edition of the "Standard." The two were
released on 10,000 Zimbabwe dollars (about US$182) bail
each late in the afternoon. The pair was questioned
about a number of articles published in the "Standard"
before police finally settled on charging them with
publishing "indecent" photographs. (NB: The
photographs were of a woman in her underwear.)

2. This is the second time in a week that Chakaodza
and Kanyuchi have been arrested. On May 16 they were
arrested and spent a night in police custody for
"publishing falsehoods" under the Access to Information
and Protection of Privacy Act. They are to appear in
court on June 3 to face those charges.

SULLIVAN

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