His Excellency President Robert Mugabe
Office of the President
Causeway, Harare
Zimbabwe

Fax: + 263 4 728 799 / 708 820 / 734 644

Vienna, 2 May 2002

Your Excellency,

The International Press Institute (IPI), the global network of editors, media executives and leading journalists, is writing to express its profound condemnation of the decision by the Zimbabwean police authorities to arrest a journalist working for the British newspaper, the Guardian.

According to information provided to IPI, Andrew Meldrum, a United States citizen who has lived in Zimbabwe for 22 years, was arrested at his home in Harare on 1 May and taken for questioning to the Harare Central Police Station. Meldrum was charged on the same day under section 80 1b of the Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act which carries a maximum term of imprisonment of two years.

Meldrum’s arrest and interrogation is thought to be related to his article, which appeared in the Guardian on 24 April, regarding the decapitation of a woman by members of the Zanu-PF party near the town of Karoi, 200 kilometres northwest of Harare. A story which later turned out to be untrue. The story was also reported in The Daily News which subsequently issued an apology stating that its reporters had been misled by a politically motivated sting.

As a result of the reports in The Daily News story, reporters Lloyd Mudiwa and Collin Chiwanza were arrested and are likely to be charged with abusing journalistic privilege by publishing falsehoods under the same act as Meldrum. The two journalists continue to be held and a lawyer acting on their behalf, Lawrence Chibwe, has sought a court order for their release but the process has been delayed by the 1 May bank holiday in Zimbabwe.

Commenting on the arrest of Meldrum, Alan Rushbridger, editor of the Guardian said, “It is outrageous that he should be the subject of criminal charges for doing the job of a reporter and we call on the Zimbabwean government to release him immediately”. Roger Alton, editor of the Guardian’s sister newspaper, The Observer, said, “Andrew Meldrum is a highly valued colleague who has reported extensively from Zimbabwe for The Observer as well as the Guardian for a number of years. He is a journalist of integrity and independence and it is unacceptable that he should face prosecution for carrying out his responsibilities as a reporter.” Meldrum is the seventh journalist to be arrested under the controversial new law which has been enforced since 22 March.

With regard to the arrest of Meldrum, IPI believes that it is yet another attempt by Robert Mugabe’s government to restrict the free flow of information through the intimidation and suppression of the media. By arresting journalists, the government is once again revealing the intense antagonism it feels towards journalists and is displaying a breathtaking ignorance of the role played by a free and independent media. IPI would remind Your Excellency that a free press is essential to a democracy and the government of Zimbabwe must learn to tolerate its activities.

Bearing the above in mind, IPI invites Your Excellency to do everything possible to ensure that Meldrum is released forthwith and we would ask you to remove the Information and Protection of Privacy Act from the statute books. By doing so you will be upholding freedom of the press and freedom of expression.

We thank you for your attention.

Yours sincerely,

Johann P. Fritz
Director

Background note:
Zimbabwe was placed on the IPI Watch List on 20 October 2001. In its press release IPI said, “[It] is deeply concerned at attempts to extinguish press freedom in the country against a background of government support for this activity and reluctance to prosecute offenders, restrictions imposed, or contemplated, by the government on the media, and the breakdown of the rule of law.”