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Daily to fight for licence
21/09/2003 16:12 - (SA)
Harare - Zimbabwe's outlawed independent daily newspaper, the Daily News, is preparing to go to court to challenge the state media commission's refusal to grant it a licence, a company official said on Sunday.
Daily News legal advisor Gugulethu Moyo said the paper's publishers were preparing to take the Media and Information Commission (MIC) to court.
"We're working on a number of applications," Moyo told AFP, adding that she hoped court papers appealing the commission's decision would be filed on Monday.
The MIC denied the Daily News a licence late on Friday, scuppering desperate attempts to get the paper back on the streets after a week of legal wrangling.
Police shut down the paper more than a week ago after the Supreme Court ruled it was operating illegally because it did not have a licence. The paper quickly filed an application to register.
The closure of the Daily News has provoked strong criticism in Zimbabwe, though there has been no sign of street protests.
"Let's not make them silence the media. Bring back the Daily News," urged press watchdog Misa (Media Institute of Southern Africa) in press advertisements Sunday.
Foreign Minister Stan Mudenge claimed, however, that the Daily News wanted "to court martyrdom", the Sunday Mail reported.
- AFP
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