Zimbabwe / Africa

New York, June 30, 2015–The Committee to Protect Journalists calls on authorities to immediately release Zimbabwean journalist Patrick Chitongo who, according to reports, was sentenced to one year in prison on June 23 for publishing an unregistered newspaper.

The telecommunications company Econet Wireless and its affiliated bank, Steward Bank, obtained a court order on March 16, 2015, that compelled the Source, an independent online business news agency, to withdraw two of its stories and allowed police and technology experts to search the premises, news reports said.

Cape Town, South Africa, October 23, 2014–Police and politicians in Zimbabwe should respect the right of journalists to report the news without fear of intimidation or violence, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today after police beat up a journalist in the capital, Harare.

Police in the capital, Harare, on August 18, 2014, assaulted and detained a photojournalist from the private daily paper Zimbabwe Mail who was covering a demonstration calling on the government to provide jobs, according to news reports.

Police detained for several hours a reporter for the independent Daily News on July 3, 2014, local journalists told CPJ. Helen Kadirire was held in Mutoko, a town 143 kilometres (89 miles) east of the capital, Harare, after she started to cover a demonstration by the Mutoko North Development Trust, a local community organization, according…

Cape Town, South Africa, June 23, 2014–Zimbabwean authorities should drop charges against the editor of the state-controlled Sunday Mail and release him immediately, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today.

New York, June 13, 2014–The Committee to Protect Journalists welcomes Thursday’s move by Zimbabwe’s Constitutional Court to strike down criminal defamation, saying it is not compatible with the country’s new constitution. The court ruled that criminal defamation violated freedom of expression and that civil suits would adequately protect individuals alleging defamation, reports said.

At least two journalists reported being attacked, threatened, and obstructed in January 2014 in Zimbabwe, while a third was summoned to court a year after being charged, according to news reports.

Though general elections in July took place in a significantly more peaceful atmosphere than the 2008 vote, the news media remained dominated by state-owned outlets. Journalists and human rights defenders were frequent targets of physical attacks and brief detentions in the months leading up to the election, which renewed the 33-year grip on power of…