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Paper to court in 14 days
02/10/2003 19:01 - (SA)
Harare - A court in Zimbabwe on Thursday said it would begin in two weeks hearing a challenge by the country's only independent newspaper, the Daily News, against its closure by the government.
The court ruled that it would start hearing the Daily News's case on October 16, after lawyers for the paper applied to the court for the matter to be heard urgently.
"The application is granted," the magistrate said in his ruling.
Last month the Supreme Court ruled that the paper, a fierce critic of President Robert Mugabe's government, was operating illegally because it had not registered with a state-appointed media commission as required by law.
The Daily News had challenged the law on the grounds it was unconstitutional, but the court ordered the paper to comply with the Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act (AIPPA) before challenging it.
The paper's subsequent application to register with the commission was then rejected, and the paper immediately appealed to the country's administrative court for an urgent hearing, which was granted on Thursday.
The paper's lawyers argued that the paper was losing millions of Zimbabwe dollars in revenue every day following its closure by the authorities on September 12.
'Defied law'
"This is one very important step towards final victory," Gugulethu Moyo, the paper's legal director told reporters outside the court.
The media commission had opposed the paper's application, saying the Daily News had deliberately defied the law by refusing to register with them.
Last month armed police raided the paper's offices and seized equipment.
Days later the High Court ordered that the paper should be allowed to reopen and that police should return the confiscated equipment.
Some of the seized equipment was returned but police occupied the paper's offices and prevented staff from producing a paper, as the government prepared to lodge an appeal against the High Court ruling.
Police returned to the paper's offices after that rejection and, armed with a warrant, which they did not have during earlier raids, took away more equipment.
Thursday's ruling in favour of the Daily News comes a day after the Harare High Court quashed an application by the paper to have equipment returned that had been seized during the succession of police raids.
- AFP
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