JOURNALISTS ARRESTED AGAIN

UNCLAS HARARE 001243 SIPDIS DEPT FOR AF/PD (COX AND ROBERTSON),AF/S (KRAFT AND SCHLACHTER),AF/RA (DIPALMA) NSC FOR JENDAYI FRAZER LONDON FOR GURNEY PARIS FOR NEARY NAIROBI FOR PFLAUMER E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: ZI PREL PHUM SUBJECT: JOURNALISTS ARRESTED AGAIN ¶1. On May 22 journalists from the independent weekly "Standard" were arrested for the second time in one week. Editor-in-Chief Bornwell Chakaodza and entertainment editor Fungayi Kanyuchi were taken to the Central Police Station and questioned for several hours. They were eventually charged with violating Section 13 of the Censorship and Entertainment Control Act because of photographs of a prostitute published in the May 12 edition of the "Standard." The two were released on 10,000 Zimbabwe dollars (about US$182) bail each late in the afternoon. The pair was questioned about a number of articles published in the "Standard" before police finally settled on charging them with publishing "indecent" photographs. (NB: The photographs were of a woman in her underwear.) ¶2. This is the second time in a week that Chakaodza and Kanyuchi have been arrested. On May 16 they were arrested and spent a night in police custody for "publishing falsehoods" under the Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act. They are to appear in court on June 3 to face those charges. SULLIVAN