"Continued harassment" of Daily News

The publishers of Zimbabwe's now banned Daily News accused the government of "continued harassment" following a fresh raid on its offices on Monday. The legal advisor of Associated Newspapers of Zimbabwe (ANZ), Gugulethu Moyo, told IRIN police had swooped on its offices on Monday morning and confiscated equipment, while four of the paper's publishers were charged for illegally operating a media business. Moyo said: "Four directors of ANZ were warned and cautioned by the police. This is a systematic attempt to finish us off." Last Friday the Media and Information Commission (MIC) unanimously decided not to grant a license to the ANZ, effectively banning both its newspapers, the Daily News and the Daily News on Sunday. In its ruling the MIC argued that the group had been publishing illegally as the ANZ had filed its application for registration eight and a half months after expiry of the 31 December 2002 deadline for registration. Moyo said ANZ would appeal to the Administrative Court to have the decision overturned. "There are several legal considerations to be discussed with the [ANZ] group but primarily we will contest that the MIC is improperly constituted, as no associations of media houses and journalists were consulted when it was appointed," Moyo said. She added that according to the Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act (AIPPA), associations of media houses and journalists were supposed to nominate three people to sit on the MIC. Last week the ANZ received temporary relief after the High Court granted an order sought by the Daily News, the country's only independent daily newspaper, barring police from seizing equipment and giving it permission to continue operating while its registration was being processed. But on Friday police reportedly prevented the newspaper's staff from entering the building.