Beatrice Mtetwa is one of Zimbabwe’s most high profile lawyers. Renowned for her lack of fear she has long been the go-to lawyer for human rights activists, politicians and journalists threatened by the hard hand of Robert Mugabe’s regime.
She has won international awards aplenty — the Index on Censorship Law Award 2006, CPJ’s Press Freedom Award in 2005; Ludovic-Trarieux International Human Rights Prize of the European Bar Human Rights Institute in 2009, and the International Human Rights Award of the American Bar Association in 2010 — but at home, her defence of Mugabe’s opponents has won her few friends among the regime. In 2003, she was arrested on spurious allegations of drunk driving and beaten by police; and in 2007, Ms Mtetwa and three of her colleagues were beaten by police at a protest against police harassment of lawyers in Harare.
Now she has been arrested again — this time for allegedly “obstructing the course of justice”.
Last Sunday, she was arrested, together with three senior MDC officials, at the house of one of Prime Minister Tsvangirai’s advisers — Thabani Mpofu. She had been called to Mpofu’s house in the morning, when he was arrested and his house was being searched. Upon arrival, Ms Mtetwa asked the police officers conducting the search to produce a search warrant, which they refused. When she protested against continuation of the search, the officers tried to take away her cell phone and purse. Upon resisting this attempt, she was placed under arrest for “obstructing the course of justice.”
After the arrest, Mtetwa was taken to Rhodesville police station in Harare. An urgent petition for her release was filed by the human rights group Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights, which was granted just before midnight. However, police have refused to comply with the court order and Ms Mtetwa is still being held in detention. She is reportedly being moved from one police station to the other prevent her lawyers from officially serving the court order and has been denied access to counsel.
The Media Legal Defence Initiative, on whose international advisory board Ms Mtetwa serves, has now filed a formal petition with the African Union and United Nations’ special mandates for the protection of human rights defenders, the independence of lawyers and freedom of expression for their urgent intervention. While Zimbabwean police refuse to comply with court orders, international pressure — including from the African Union — is hoped to have a result.
Freedomfone by Kubatana accept the Innovation Award, which recognises innovation and original use of new technology to circumvent censorship and foster debate, argument or dissent
Accepting the award FreedomFone activist Upenyu Makoni-Muchemwa said:
Repressive governments deliberately hinder people’s access to information to entrench control and minimise dissent. New media technologies, and the innovative uses of old media, challenge this control. The Kubatana Trust of Zimbabwe’s primary objective is to make human rights and civic information accessible from a centralised, electronic source. We use the Internet, email, blogging, SMS, Freedom Fone, DVDs and print publications to share this information with Zimbabweans living in urban and rural locations.
Our technical director, Brenda Burrell had a vision to enable activists and NGOs to create short form audio programmes, which people could call-in to listen to using their phones. Thus Freedom Fone was conceptualised.
Information can be shared and received at anytime in any language wherever there is mobile coverage. Traditional roadblocks of licensing, regulation and literacy are bypassed, and freedom of expression is broadened. However, it is not surprising that a regime which so thoroughly seeks to suppress dissent and suffocate opportunities for free expression and debate, should be threatened by a service which broadens access to information and encourages the open exchange of opinion.
The Broadcasting Authority of Zimbabwe, an entity generally acknowledged to have been set up to control, rather than to expand the access to information, advised Kubatana that we were operating an “unlicensed broadcasting service” and that we were in violation of the law by making these audio dramas accessible over phones.
We have sought advice from both local and regional legal practitioners, and the opinion is that the Freedom Fone services provided by Kubatana are not in violation of any broadcasting laws. Currently Kubatana is seeking support to challenge the Broadcasting Authority of Zimbabwe in court. Kubatana’s Freedom Fone and services like it provide new opportunities for communication, mobilisation and activism.
In repressive environments, this will be met with resistance. However, it is important not to buckle under this pressure or constrain one’s own creative use of technology. Rather, we must use innovative technologies to expand access to information and broaden discussions of censorship, repression and control of the media environment. We are honoured to receive this award and would like to take this opportunity to thank our various donors and supporters for enabling our work. Most importantly we would like to thank the people who make up the Kubatana Community in Zimbabwe.
CLICK HERE TO SEE THE FULL SHORTLIST FOR THE INNOVATION AWARD, SPONSORED BY GOOGLE
A Zimbabwe court on Monday fined six activists 500 USD (315 GBP) each and ordered them to carry out 420 hours of community service for conspiring to commit public violence during a meeting at which they watched video footage of Egyptian mass uprisings. Harare magistrate Kudakwashe Jarabini ordered former opposition politician Munyaradzi Gwisai and five others to do community service or face a year in jail. He said that, although watching a video was not a crime, the “manner and motive” of the meeting showed bad intent, ruling that showing the footage that included “nasty scenarios” was intended to arouse hostility towards Zimbabwe’s government.
Detained staff from a Zimbabwean media monitoring project have been refused bail. Advocacy officers Molly Chimhanda and Fadzai December from Media Monitoring Project Zimbabwe (MMPZ), and an another MMPZ member, Gilbert Mabusa, were arrested on 5 December. The three were granted bail of US$50 by a Gwanda magistrate, but the state subsequently suspended that ruling. As the bail order has been suspended, Chinhanda, December and Mabusa must now the filing of an appeal to the High Court by the state within seven days.
Staff from a Zimbabwean free expression organisation have been arrested and detained. Advocacy officers Molly Chimhanda and Fadzai December from Media Monitoring Project Zimbabwe (MMPZ), and an accompanying member of MMPZ, Gilbert Mabusa, were arrested on 5 December 2011 in the city of Gwanda.
The trio are being charged with ”participating in a gathering with intent to promote public violence, breaches of the peace or bigotry,” following a meeting in November during which they distributed a DVD calling on the media to promote a peaceful electoral process.
Zimbabwean police stormed the offices of a daily newspaper, and arrested one of it’s journalists last week. Xolisani Ncube of Daily News was arrested on December 2, in connection with an article about a government minister that appeared in the paper last month. Newspaper editor, Stanely Gama handed himself over to the police after being summoned for the same investigation. Police sources said it is likely the pair will be tried for criminal defamation following the article, “Chombo brags about riches”, in which they said Ingatius Chombo had bragged about his wealth.
A Zimbabwean newspaper is facing a defamation suit from a retired colonel. ZANU-PF member Claudius Makova is suing local paper the Masvingo Mirror for USD 100,000 after it published a story referring to Makova’s alleged interests in Bikita Minerals, the country’s sole lithium producer. Makova claimed the defamatory statements lay in references to him as “stupid and greedy,” and said his reputation had been damaged.
Police in Zimbabwe have arrested two journalists from the Sunday Standard newspaper: editor Nevanje Madanhire and reporter Patience Nyangove for publishing allegedly “false statements” about the arrest of a government official. The official, Jameson Timba is minister for the Movement for Democratic Change party and was arrested for reportedly calling President Robert Mugabe a liar. Mr Timba’s release was later ordered during a special hearing in the Harare High Court. It is a criminal offence to insult the President under Zimbabwean law. Nyangove and Ramakgapola were charged with “publishing false statements prejudicial to the state” and are due to appear in court tomorrow.
