Foreign journalists released in Zimbabwe

Two foreign journalists facing charges of contravening the Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act (AIPPA) were on 16 April 2008 removed from remand by Harare Magistrate Gloria Takundwa.

Johannesburg based New York Times correspondent Barry Bearaik and South African based freelance journalist Stephan Bevan (who is of British Origin) were facing charges of contravening Section 78(2) of AIPPA, which criminalizes practicing journalism without accreditation.

In her judgement, the magistrate stated that the continued detention of the pair had not only gone against the Attorney General’s order that the two should be released but had also been unlawful, because, at the time of the detention no warrant of arrest had been produced.

The pair’s application for refusal of remand was successful as the state had failed “dismally” to prove that the two had indeed committed the crime, but had only relied on inconsistent and unreliable evidence.

The magistrate stated that presently, the state was “lingering in limbo as to which Section they should charge the two”. In passing her judgment, the magistrate noted that the state had failed to produce documents to be used as exhibits in court, but went on to rely on “nameless and faceless people” which the pair is alleged to have interviewed.

Background

Barry Bearaik and Stephan Bevan were arrested in a police raid at a lodge in Harare on 3 April 2008. The two were charged separately for practicing journalism without accreditation in violation of Section 78 (2) of Zimbabwe’s repressive Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act. Both were released on Z$300 million bail after surviving 5 days in police cells.