MISA expresses concern on newspaper article on the judiciary, cites articles as false and likely to endanger press freedom

The Mozambique news agency, AIM, reports that the Mozambican chapter of the regional press freedom body, MISA, has expressed serious concern on the reporting by the Maputo based weekly “Zambeze” newspaper. “Zambeze’’ has produced a constant stream of articles attacking prominent judges and prosecutors, warning that such campaigns have nothing to do with the true meaning of press freedom.

Aim says that not a week has gone by without “Zambeze” publishing articles making allegations against some of the figures most associated with the fight against organized crime in Mozambique – notably lawyer Albano Silva, Attorney-General Augusto Paulino, and judges of the Supreme Court. Most of the allegations have been found to be untrue.

MISA-Mozambique describes these stories as “a series of supposedly journalistic texts that try to demonstrate an alleged subordination of judges and prosecutors to the interests of the ruling party, but without ever presenting any substantive evidence”.

For the last three editions, “Zambeze” has attacked by name several Supreme Court judges, holding them personally responsible for a variety of judicial decisions, some of them dating from the period of the one party state. MISA notes that “Zambeze” has indulged in a bout of insults “attacking the reputation, dignity and self-esteem” of the judges concerned.

“ Zambeze” even tried to link current Supreme Court judges to the 1983 public execution by firing squad of an alleged smuggler, Gulam Nabi. MISA does not go into this in any detail, but in fact no member of the Supreme Court ever sat on the “Revolutionary Military Tribunal” (TMR) responsible for this death sentence, and several are well known for their opposition, not only to the death sentence, but also to the very existence of “exceptional courts”, such as the now defunct TMR.

The “Zambeze” articles “are not based on any fact of justified public interest”, the MISA statement accused, and “violate the most elementary principles of responsible journalism, based on the investigation of the facts, on the truth of the facts, and on balance between sources”.

MISA thus “strongly repudiates this type of behavior in the Mozambican media”, and urged the “Zambeze” director, editor and journalists to end their campaign, and to be guided instead by a sense of seriousness, dignity and professional ethics.

Rashweat Mukundu
Programme Specialist: Media Freedom Monitoring
MISA Regional Secretariat
21 Johann Albrecht Street
Private Bag 13386
Windhoek, Namibia
Tel: + 264 61 232 975
Fax:+264 61 248016
Mobile: 00 264 813 675 362
E mail rashweat@misa.org, misaalerts@gmail.com

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