Press releases & protests

For Immediate Release                                                                                      Contact: Mark Bench, 703.715.9811
                                                                                                                                      embench@wpfc.org
 

WPFC Calls for Zimbabwe’s Suspension from International Community

Reston, USA, June 23, 2008 — The World Press Freedom Committee which comprises 45 media organizations throughout the world, condemns in the strongest terms the ban by the Zimbabwe government on the distribution of 60,000 copies of the June 19 issue of the weekly independent newspaper, the Zimbabwean. The ban results from the refusal by the Zimbabwe Revenue Authority to release the consignment of the papers flown into Harare Airport for distribution. This preceded the ban by the Zimbabwean authorities on the distribution of Sunday newspapers from South Africa on June 22.

The government’s crackdown on independent news sources has resulted in the people of Zimbabwe having been denied access to critical news for several years -- a prime example being the closure by the government of the Daily News. This has left most of the people reliant on government-supporting papers and electronic media which turn news into propaganda for the government. The government’s tight censorship on independent news has now been compounded by the barring from the public of the Zimbabwean and the South African papers.

This heavy censorship with the wide-ranging attacks on and beating and killing of supporters of the main opposition party, the Movement for Democratic Change, has resulted in the once relatively free Zimbabwe becoming a dictatorship acting to prevent people from entertaining any actions or thoughts contrary to the rulers’ views.

The WPFC believes few other countries in the world today have taken such extreme steps to blot out freedom of expression and a free media and to force conformity of thought to such an extent.

It calls on the United Nations and African regional organizations to suspend this country which openly violates the Universal Declaration of Human Rights -- especially Article 19 -- and on neighboring countries to suspend their diplomatic relations with Zimbabwe.

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