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Daily News makes urgent appeal
18/09/2003 18:10 - (SA)
Harare - Lawyers for Zimbabwe's only independent daily newspaper, shut down last week by the government for operating illegally, made an urgent application in the High Court on Thursday for an order overturning the closure.
Adrian de Bourbon, who represents the Daily News, told the court that his clients had complied with the country's media law by applying this week for registration with a government media commission.
"Now that an application has been made, the newspaper can be published," De Bourbon argued before Justice Yunus Omarjee. "That is the relief we seek."
Last week police shut down the offices and printing presses of the Daily News, the country's most popular newspaper and a fervent critic of President Robert Mugabe's government.
The Supreme Court had ruled a day earlier that the paper was operating illegally because it had failed to register with a state-appointed media commission, arguing that mandatory registration was unconstitutional.
Staff at the paper were ordered out of their offices, and the Daily News has not been published since then.
Police removing office equipment
This week police started to remove computers and other equipment from the newspaper offices, saying they needed it as "evidence".
But de Bourbon argued that the action was illegal as the police had neither a warrant nor a court order.
"There is no legal basis for the illegalities that the police have perpetrated in this case," de Bourbon argued.
He said if the police had wanted evidence of an offence committed by the paper they had only to buy a copy of the Daily News published on the Friday after the Supreme Court made its ruling.
"On whose instructions were they acting?" de Bourbon asked. "Was their motive to obtain evidence or stop freedom of expression?"
Refused to register with media commission
The Daily News had refused to register with the media commission as required under the country's controversial Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act (AIPPA).
Instead it chose to challenge the constitutionality of the law in the Supreme Court. But the court ruled the paper would have to comply with the law before challenging it.
State lawyer Fatima Maxwell argued on Thursday that the police were acting within the law.
She said the Daily News had shown a "flagrant disregard" for the Supreme Court by publishing the day after the court had ruled the paper was operating illegally.
"Since the applicant had published an issue a day after the judgement, the police were justified in acting in the manner they did," she argued.
No right to keep staff out
However, she conceded that the police had no right to keep staff members out of their offices.
"Their (police) presence should only be for the purpose of securing any evidence," she said.
Meanwhile police continued their seizure of the newspaper's assets on Thursday, still without a warrant or a court order, according to Daily News legal advisor, Gugulethu Moyo.
"In spite of the fact that there is a court hearing today, they have continued taking away our equipment," she told AFP.
Human rights lawyers have expressed concern that the police had gone ahead with the seizure of equipment before the court had had time to rule on the paper's application.
"The police have recklessly continued with their conduct, unconcerned as to the outcome of the court proceedings," the Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights said in a statement.
Outrage sparked internationally
The closure of the Daily News has sparked outrage both locally and internationally over a perceived assault on freedom of expression in the southern African country.
On Wednesday more than 100 pro-democracy activists were arrested after they took to the streets of Harare to protest the paper's forced closure, as well as the need for a new constitution that guarantees freedom of expression.
Those arrested included three freelance photojournalists.
Since the Daily News was launched four years ago it has had its premises bombed twice, and pro-government militants have barred the sale of the paper in some parts of the country.
- AFP
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