Four Daily News executives charged

The chief executive and three directors of the Daily News, an independent Zimbabwean newspaper critical of the government, turned themselves into the police on Monday and were charged for publishing without a license. The charges follow the arrest on Sunday of Washington Sansole, another director of the Associated Newspapers of Zimbabwe, the publishers of the Daily News, in the southern city of Bulawayo. Zimbabwe police spokesman Assistant Commissioner Wayne Bvudzijena told the official newspaper, The Herald, that the men were wanted for authorising the newspaper's return to the streets on Saturday with an eight-page edition headlined "We're back!". The latest twist in the government's long-running battle with the country's only privately owned daily began on Friday when the Administrative Court, which has equal powers to that of the High Court, ruled that the government-appointed Media and Information Commission (MIC) erred when it denied the newspaper a registration licence. The court ruled that the MIC was improperly constituted because it did not include a media representative. It also established that the commission had exhibited a bias against the Daily News after its chairman, Tafataona Mahoso, wrote in the pro-government Sunday Mail that the Daily News and its sister paper, the Daily News on Sunday, were: "Rightwing extremists dressed up in civil rights robes". The president of the Administrative Court, Michael Majuru, ordered a properly constituted MIC board to issue the Daily News with a certificate of registration before 30 November. But media commission officials reportedly said they would appeal against the ruling. They argued that the application from the paper, which had initially refused to register in protest over the constitutionality of the government's strict Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act (AIPPA), had come too late. Daily News executives took advantage of a provision in the AIPPA allowing a mass media house that has submitted its registration papers to the commission to continue operating until the issue has been resolved. That led to print run that was snapped up by eager readers in the capital, Harare, as it hit the streets. However, the police said the latest court action did not give the newspaper, the country's largest selling daily, the right to resume publication. In response, the police moved into the newspaper's offices on Saturday and arrested 18 journalists and support staff who were working on the Sunday edition of the newspaper. They were later released. The police first closed the newspaper on 12 September after the Supreme Court refused to entertain the paper's challenge to the constitutionality of the registeration process. The court ordered the company to register before hearing its case. Critics have condemned the AIPPA as an attempt to silence opposition voices. The government says the AIPPA is meant to instil professionalism in the media.