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| CPJ wants Zimbabwe to drop charges again 2 SA journalists
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Lagos, Nigeria (PANA) -
The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has
called for charges to be dropped against South African journalists
Sipho Moses Maseko and Abdulla Ismail Gaibbe and their passports
returned.
In a statement made available to PANA here Thursday, the media rights
group said the case against the journalists was tossed out once by a
court magistrate but were later reinstated.
The men, working for the South African satellite company GlobeCast,
were arrested on 27 March at the Harare International Conference
Centre, where they were broadcasting a press conference given by the
minister of information, according to news reports and the Media
Institute of Southern Africa.
Maseko, a freelance cameraman, and Gaibbe, a satellite technician,
were detained on charges of practicing journalism without
accreditation, according to GlobeCast CEO Alan Hird
On Friday, Magistrate Stephen Musoni ordered authorities to release the men and
return their passports after state prosecutors did not show up for
court hearings in the case.
But Police later reinstated the charges, adding a count of obstruction
of justice, but the men have remained free on bail and are due in
court this week.
Maseko was taken to St. Anne's Hospital in Harare on Sunday for
treatment related to diabetes and high blood pressure.
Zimbabwe's restrictive journalist accreditation law, the Access to
Information and Protection of Privacy Act, was used to block
international and some local reporters from covering the 29 March
elections.
Zimbabwean authorities have used the accreditation law six times to
jail foreign journalists and censor coverage.
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| Lagos - 10/04/2008 |
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