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Ruling shuts Daily News again
06/02/2004 11:10 - (SA)
Harare - Journalists at Zimbabwe's only independent daily left their offices Thursday after a court ruled that working without a government-issued license is a crime.
The Daily News, which was refused a license in December and is a platform for dissent against President Robert Mugabe, will not appear on Friday, the owners said.
"We are not printing tonight," said Brian Mutsau, speaking for the owners, Associated Newspapers of Zimbabwe.
Mugabe's government has sought to crack down on dissent since his disputed re-election in 2002. He's been accused of packing courts with sympathetic judges.
In a ruling earlier on Thursday, the Supreme Court threw out a constitutional challenge to the government's sweeping media laws, making it illegal to work as a journalist or operate a media organisation without official accreditation from the state Media and Information Commission.
Journalists working without a license face arrest, trial and imprisonment for up to two years in jail with no option to appeal.
Mutsau said the paper's journalists were planning to reapply for accreditation in line with the ruling. "Then we will see how it turns out," he said.
The government banned the newspaper in September and police blockaded its premises after the commission refused to license it.
The Daily News reopened on January 22 after long legal battle to remove police from its offices and printing factory.
Thursday's court ruling put journalists under the direct control of the government with penalties of a fine and imprisonment for infringements of laws enforced by the Information Ministry and the state-appointed media commission, said attorney Sternford Moyo, representing the Independent Journalists Association of Zimbabwe.
The Supreme Court rejected the association's contention that the government's media laws violated constitutional rights of free expression, Moyo said.
- AP
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