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Jakachira acquitted in first victory over one of the world's harshest press laws
Reporters sans frontières / Reporters Without Borders
September 02, 2005

http://www.rsf.org/article.php3?id_article=14812

Reporters Without Borders today hailed the 31 August acquittal of Daily News journalist Kelvin Jakachira on charges of violating the Zimbabwean government's press law by working without being accredited with the Media and Information Commission (MIC), which is under the government's close control.

There had been concern that Jakachira's conviction would have set off a wave of arrests of other Daily News journalists on similar charges.

Judge Priscilla Chigumira based her verdict on Section 82 of the press law - the so-called Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act (AIPPA) - according to which a journalist may continue working in the interval between filing a request for accreditation and receiving the MIC's answer. The MIC never responded to Jakachira's request.

"This was a fair verdict and constitutes a victory over one of the world's most draconian press laws," Reporters Without Borders said. "We congratulate the entire Daily News staff, especially Kelvin Jakachira and the newspaper's 44 other journalists, who were all awaiting this ruling."

The organisation added: "However, this success is just one grain of sand in Robert Mugabe's vast repressive machinery and we will remain vigilant alongside the Daily News and all of Zimbabwe's independent journalists."

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