Police occupied the offices of Zimbabwe's only independent daily newspaper on Saturday, halting operations and detaining staff one day after a court order blocked government efforts to shut it down.
Officials at the Daily News said armed police swooped on the newspaper offices in central Harare and detained 18 journalists and administrators just hours after the paper put out its first edition since being closed by government order six weeks ago.
The employees were released after about four hours, but were required to sign statements saying they worked for the newspaper's publisher, a possible preliminary step toward prosecution for working illegally.
They also received a verbal warning not to return to work, newspaper staff said.
"Police have physically occupied our offices and are stopping us from working. They are trying to achieve by force what they could not achieve through the courts. They've ordered our staff out without a legal warrant or a court order," said Gugulethu Moyo, a lawyer representing Daily News publisher Associated Newspapers of Zimbabwe (ANZ).
"This is an act of vengeance by a government that preaches the rule of law but lives by the rule of the jungle. We are being persecuted but we are determined to fight on," Moyo said.
A Western news agency reporter saw several armed policemen standing outside the newspaper's Harare office on Saturday.
The raid occurred one day after the Harare Administrative Court dealt President Robert Mugabe's government a defeat by ordering that the Daily News -- a persistent government critic -- be granted a new publishing license.
The license had not yet been issued, but newspaper executives said they believed the court order was sufficient grounds to resume publication immediately.
The newspaper, closed after a court found it did not have the license required by Zimbabwe's strict new media laws, quickly went to work and rushed out an eight-page edition on Saturday headlined "We Are Back."
Senior Assistant Police Commissioner Wayne Bvudzijena told state TV police were enforcing the will of the court.
"The police have taken action against the ANZ because the Daily News cannot publish without a license and must comply the court's ruling."
But Zimbabwe state radio quoted unnamed lawyers suggesting the Daily News' publication on Saturday was against the law and in contempt of court.
Friday's court ruling held that the state media commission erred when it rejected a license application by the Daily News, which has stepped up criticism of Mugabe's government as Zimbabwe slides into a worsening political and economic crisis.
The court ordered that a new commission be appointed and a license granted to the Daily News by Nov. 30. Media commission officials, who argued that the paper's application came too late, said they would appeal against the ruling.
OUTRAGE: The former strongman was accused of corruption and responsibility for the killings of hundreds of thousands of political opponents during his time in office Indonesia yesterday awarded the title of national hero to late president Suharto, provoking outrage from rights groups who said the move was an attempt to whitewash decades of human rights abuses and corruption that took place during his 32 years in power. Suharto was a US ally during the Cold War who presided over decades of authoritarian rule, during which up to 1 million political opponents were killed, until he was toppled by protests in 1998. He was one of 10 people recognized by Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto in a televised ceremony held at the presidential palace in Jakarta to mark National
Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr yesterday vowed that those behind bogus flood control projects would be arrested before Christmas, days after deadly back-to-back typhoons left swathes of the country underwater. Scores of construction firm owners, government officials and lawmakers — including Marcos’ cousin congressman — have been accused of pocketing funds for substandard or so-called “ghost” infrastructure projects. The Philippine Department of Finance has estimated the nation’s economy lost up to 118.5 billion pesos (US$2 billion) since 2023 due to corruption in flood control projects. Criminal cases against most of the people implicated are nearly complete, Marcos told reporters. “We don’t file cases for
LANDMARK: After first meeting Trump in Riyadh in May, al-Sharaa’s visit to the White House today would be the first by a Syrian leader since the country’s independence Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa arrived in the US on Saturday for a landmark official visit, his country’s state news agency SANA reported, a day after Washington removed him from a terrorism blacklist. Sharaa, whose rebel forces ousted long-time former Syrian president Bashar al-Assad late last year, is due to meet US President Donald Trump at the White House today. It is the first such visit by a Syrian president since the country’s independence in 1946, according to analysts. The interim leader met Trump for the first time in Riyadh during the US president’s regional tour in May. US envoy to Syria Tom Barrack earlier
‘ATTACK ON CIVILIZATION’: The culture ministry released drawings of six missing statues representing the Roman goddess of Venus, the tallest of which was 40cm Investigators believe that the theft of several ancient statues dating back to the Roman era from Syria’s national museum was likely the work of an individual, not an organized gang, officials said on Wednesday. The National Museum of Damascus was closed after the heist was discovered early on Monday. The museum had reopened in January as the country recovers from a 14-year civil war and the fall of the 54-year al-Assad dynasty last year. On Wednesday, a security vehicle was parked outside the main gate of the museum in central Damascus while security guards stood nearby. People were not allowed in because
RSS