MEDIA REPORT MUDIWA TRIAL REFERRED TO SUPREME

UNCLAS HARARE 001715 SIPDIS DEPT. FOR AF/PD, AF/S, AF/RA POSTS FOR PAS E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: KPAO OIIP PHUM ZI SUBJECT: MEDIA REPORT MUDIWA TRIAL REFERRED TO SUPREME COURT; HARARE The trial of "Daily News" reporter Lloyd Mudiwa and his editor Geoffrey Nyarota has been referred to the country's Supreme Court. A Zimbabwean magistrate, Sandra Nhau, yesterday (July 24) agreed with defense lawyers that the case raised "serious constitutional matters." Mudiwa and Nyarota are facing charges of publishing a false story under the newly enacted Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act (AIPPA). Last week a magistrate acquitted Andrew Meldrum, a U. S. national reporting for the British-based "Guardian" newspaper, of similar charges. SULLIVAN