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Zim editor condemns attack on journalist
By
Staff Reporter
26/01/04
THE editor of the Zimbabwe Independent newspaper, Iden Wetherell has
condemned Friday's attack on the paper's chief reporter Dumisani Muleya
who had to receive stitches after suffering a deep gush above his right
eye as a result of the attack.
"We have yet to establish the motives for the attack. But I regard
any attack on any of our journalists as a very serious matter,"
Wetherell told newzimbabwe.com. "The Zimbabwe
Independent is currently under siege by forces hostile to a free press.
We are therefore particularly concerned about the personal safety of
our journalists."
Muleya was attacked by three unidebtified men outside a Harare hotel.
The attackers also made off with his mobile phone and cash amounting
to $100 000.
The attack came just under a week after Muleya was released on bail
from police custody where he was detained for two days on charges of
criminal defamation arising from a story which said President Robert
Mugabe had commandeered a plane for his private visit to the Far East.
Narrating his ordeal, Muleya said: "I was coming from the Quill
Club at the New Ambassador Hotel towards Cresta Oasis along Kwame Nkrumah
Avenue when, as I passed Fourth Street, a red 405 Peugeot parked just
in front of me. Three guys alighted from the vehicle and started attacking
me."
Muleya and Wetherell, both denounced as “terrorists” by Mugabe’s garrulous chief spokesman Jonathan Moyo were arrested last week over a story that stated that President Mugabe had commandeered a plane to come and pick him up while on a foreign trip in the Far East.
Minister Moyo dismissed the report as “blasphemy”, prompting the police to arrest Muleya, Wetherell and two other colleagues.
"Those
behind this deliberate falsehood calculated to bring the Office of the
President into disrepute must be held accountable," Moyo ranted.
"This means the editor and the two writers will be held to account
for their lawless and fictitious claims."
Writing in the Sunday Times following his incarceration, a defiant Muleya
said: “Amid all this hot air and political steam, Moyo failed
to deny the essence of the story, which was that Mugabe had taken an
Air Zimbabwe aircraft to the Far East.
”In a bid to build a case, the police claimed that the word "commandeer" - used in our story - meant "to hijack". This was laughable and ridiculous. We were arrested for semantics - the meaning and interpretation of the slight nuances of a single word.”
Muleya, Wetherell and the paper’s news editor Vincent Kahiya were granted bail of Z$20 000 after appearing at the Harare Magistrates' Court on charges of "criminal defamation" against President Mugabe. They will appear in court again on January 29.
Attacks on journalists from the independent media have escalated since the passing of what media watchers say is a repugnant piece of legislation, the Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act last year.
Reacting
to the journalists’ arrest and threats by Moyo, the secretary-general
of Reporters Without Borders Robert Menard last week said the year had
started on a bad note.
"The year 2004 opened in the worst possible way for press freedom
in Zimbabwe," Menard said.
"Three journalists have already been arrested and authorities are
still trying to prevent the Daily News from publishing despite High
Court rulings in its favour," he said.
"We are extremely concerned about the working conditions for Zimbabwe
journalists and call on the authorities to pull back. The people have
the right to diverse and independent news and information," he
added.
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