New York, February 11, 2002—The Bulawayo city bureau of the independent
Daily News was bombed in the early hours of Monday morning, CPJ
has learned.
At about 3 a.m., two gasoline bombs were thrown at the Daily News building
from a moving vehicle. No one was hurt in the explosion, and the office
suffered only minor damage. A nearby building housing the Daily Press,
a private printing business unrelated to the Daily News, was also
bombed.
"CPJ is deeply disturbed by this latest act of violence against the independent
press in Zimbabwe," said executive director Ann Cooper. "We urge police
to launch a prompt and thorough investigation."
The bombing was the third such attack on the private
daily in the last two years. It follows an incident on Thursday in which
unidentified people plastered campaign posters touting President Robert
Mugabe's ZANU-PF party on the bureau's windows and outer walls. The individuals
threatened to burn down the building if the posters were removed.
Under Zimbabwean law, placing posters on private property is illegal without
the owner's consent. When Daily News editors called ZANU-PF headquarters
to complain about the posters, however, party officials denied any involvement
in the incident, claiming that some posters had been stolen from their
offices.
As the March 9 and 10 presidential election nears, the Daily News
has come under increasing harassment from the government and supporters
of Mugabe's ZANU-PF party, whose parliamentary delegation recently succeeded
in passing legislation that imposes harsh restriction on international
media representatives in Zimbabwe and increases state control over the
local press.
On Friday February 8, security guards at Vice President Joseph Msika's
home in the capital, Harare, arrested Vincent Chinembiri, a Daily News
vendor, and accused him of delivering an anthrax-laced newspaper to Msika's
home. Daily News sources dismissed the allegation.
According to the Daily News, Chinembiri was arrested around 8 a.m.
and later interrogated at the Law and Order Section of the Harare Central
Police Station.
On Sunday, efforts to secure Chinembiri's release failed as senior police
officers insisted the newsvendor had engaged in "an act of banditry."
The Daily News office and printing press in Harare were bombed
in April 2000 and January 2001, respectively. Police have yet to identify
a suspect in either attack.
|
