"DAILY NEWS" EDITOR ARRESTED AND RELEASED

UNCLAS HARARE 001218 SIPDIS DEPT FOR AF/PD (COX AND ROBERTSON),AF/S (KRAFT AND SCHLACHTER),AF/RA (DIPALMA),NSC (FRAZER) LONDON FOF GURNEY PARIS FOR NEARY NAIROBI FOR PFLAUMER E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: ZI PREL PHUM SUBJECT: "DAILY NEWS" EDITOR ARRESTED AND RELEASED ¶1. Geoff Nyarota, editor of the independent daily "The Daily News," was charged on May 20 with publishing "falsehoods," a violation of the Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act. The charge is related to the now infamous and disproven "beheaded woman" story, published in the "Daily News" on April 23, 2002. ¶2. Nyarota pled not guilty and was released after paying Z$10,000 (about US$182 at the official exchange rate) after about 5 hours in police custody. He was not mistreated. ¶3. This arrest is Nyarota's second in 5 weeks. On April 15 he was charged with publishing "falsehoods" because of a report in the "Daily News" that there were discrepancies between the results announced by the Registrar General and the actual number of votes cast in the March presidential election. SULLIVAN