WAN-IFRA condemns detention of Zimbabwe editor, calls for her release
UPDATE: Zimbabwe Independent editor Faith Zaba was on Friday 4 July granted bail by Harare magistrate Vakai Chikwekwe after a power outage disrupted proceedings at the bail hearing on Thursday, reports NewsDay. The power outage condemned her to a third night in detention following her arrest this week over a satirical article that appeared in the weekly
Faith Zaba, Zimbabwe Independent Editor and 2022 WAN-IFRA Women in News Leadership laureate, will spend a second night in police custody after a Harare magistrate today postponed a bail hearing to allow prosecutors time to examine defence submissions around the state of her health.
Charges stem from a satirical Muckraker article published in the Zimbabwe Independent on Friday 27 June. Despite recording a warning and caution statement, police insisted on detaining Zaba.
According to the Zimbabwe National Editors’ Forum (ZINEF), Zaba is just the latest in a growing trend of Zimbabwean journalists facing official harassment, intimidation and arrest
Zaba’s colleague, Blessed Mhlanga, was released in May after spending 73 days in detention. Between 2020 and 2021, journalist Hopewell Chin’ono was arrested twice and detained for 44 days. Long pre-trial detention has also been used to unjustly punish those targeted.
WAN-IFRA calls for Zaba’s immediate and unconditional release and for all charges against her to be dropped.
‘Instead of arresting journalists and criminalising the profession, Zimbabwean authorities should be doing everything in their power to protect media freedom and the hard-won constitutionally guaranteed rights of the country’s media professionals,’ said WAN-IFRA Press Freedom Executive Director, Andrew Heslop.
‘Satire is an essential component of a free press, and public figures – presidents included – should accept that their roles expose them to greater levels of public scrutiny.
‘A strong, healthy democracy should have confidence in holding a mirror to itself and the actions of its leaders. That is a free media’s indispensable role – and Ms. Zaba should be immediately freed to continue doing it.’
Zaba’s bail hearing is scheduled to reconvene tomorrow, 3 July, with local, regional and international professional bodies and press freedom organisations closely monitoring the outcome.
- This article was first published here
