Harare – The trial of four Zimbabwean newspaper directors charged with illegally publishing the popular Daily News, shut down by authorities last year, resumed for one day on Monday at a Harare court. At the hearing, the defence lawyer applied for the charges to be dropped against Samuel Nkomo, Brian Mutsau, Rachel Kupara and Michael Mattinson, who are accused of breaching strict media laws by publishing the Daily News last year without a licence. “The defence wishes to apply for a discharge,” Beatrice Mtetwa told magistrate Lillian Kudya, who adjourned the case to July 19, when she is due to make a ruling. The Daily News had refused to register with the official Media and Information Commission (MIC) in 2003, saying the law was unconstitutional. This led to the forced closure of the paper on September 11 last year. Zimbabwe’s Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act (AIPPA) requires all journalists and newspapers to be registered. The four directors, who have pleaded not guilty, could face a fine or a two-year jail term if convicted.

In a move that sparked an international outcry, armed police officers closed down the Daily News in September, and confiscated equipment. A subsequent attempt to register the paper was turned down by the MIC. The Daily News successfully challenged the MIC’s decision in court, which ruled that the paper should be registered “on or before” November 30, 2003. The paper published a comeback edition on October 25, which was short-lived as the state again stopped publication and police arrested the four directors. They said the paper was still operating illegally by not being registered. “As far as I’m concerned, they [Daily News] had no right to publish on the 25th [October],” state witness Norbert Chibasa, a police detective, told the court during Monday’s hearing. “Any media house that is not registered should not be allowed to publish until they comply with the law,” he said.

The newspaper directors face an alternative charge of contempt of court for publishing before the November 30 deadline set by the court. The defence, however, disputes this charge. “The court did not at all stop ANZ [Associated Newspapers of Zimbabwe – publishers of the Daily News] from publishing,” defence lawyer Mtetwa said. She said under Zimbabwe’s laws a mass media service is deemed to be registered while its application to the media commission is pending. She said the Daily News had applied by October 25. “Police should comply with provisions of the law. You as the police failed to do that,” she told the state witness. In a landmark ruling, Zimbabwe’s administrative court ruled on October 24 that the media commission was not properly constituted, and had shown bias in denying a registration certificate to the Daily News. The Daily News was launched in 1999, providing nearly a million readers with the only independent alternative to two state-run dailies – the Herald and the Chronicle. Its harshly critical editorial line proved to be a thorn in the side of President Robert Mugabe’s government.

Source: WWW.ZwNews.Com