Six-month prison sentences have been passed by a court in the southwestern city of Bulawayo on three South African drivers for “unauthorised possession of TV broadcast equipment.”
“The Zimbabwean authorities stop at nothing to control and punish foreign news media and anyone else who is liable to draw attention to the disastrous situation in the Zimbabwe,” Paris-based Reporters sans Frontières (RSF) has said. “Such severe sentences are incredible. We call on the Zimbabwean courts to overturn this decision.”
The three drivers—Bernet Hasani Sono, Resemate Boy Chauke and Simon Maodi—were found on Monday to be carrying equipment belonging to British TV broadcaster Sky News when they were stopped at a police roadblock on May 23. The police arrested them on suspicion of illegally transmitting video from a Bulawayo factory and seized all the equipment, including satellite dishes, mobile phones and cameras.
The drivers pleaded guilty to violating the Broadcasting Act, for which they were given six months in prison. They got an additional six weeks in prison for entering Zimbabwe without passports. Like many other foreign TV news broadcasters including the BBC and CNN, Sky News was refused permission to cover the March 29 general elections.
