UN EXPERTS CONCERNED OVER REPORTS OF DEATH THREATS AGAINST JOURNALISTS IN ZIMBABWE

24 August 2001




Asma Jahangir (Pakistan), Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions and Abid Hussain (India), Special Rapporteur on the right to freedom of opinion and expression have expressed their extreme concern about reports of death threats against five Zimbabwean journalists who have “publicly denounced the repeated violations of press freedom in their country”.

In a communication to the Government on 22 August 2001, the independent experts of the United Nations Commission on Human Rights refer to allegations that the following journalists appear on a hit-list compiled by the Law and Order section of the Zimbabwe police and the Central Intelligence Organization: Basildon Peta, news editor of the weekly Financial Gazette and correspondent for the Independent of London and the Star of Johannesburg; Geoff Nyarota, editor of the Zimbabwe Daily News; Iden Wetherell, editor of the Zimbabwe Independent; Mark Chavunduka and Cornelius Nduna, respectively editor and news editor of the Standard Newspaper.

In their communication the two experts urge the Government to provide information on these serious allegations, in particular on the steps taken, in compliance with the provisions contained in the international legal instruments to which Zimbabwe is party, to ensure effective protection of the right to life and physical integrity of the five journalists.

They also appeal to the Government to take all necessary measures to ensure that the right to freedom of opinion and expression is fully protected, in accordance with article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.



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