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NewsDay

AMH is an independent media house free from political ties or outside influence. We have four newspapers: The Zimbabwe Independent, a business weekly published every Friday, The Standard, a weekly published every Sunday, and Southern and NewsDay, our daily newspapers. Each has an online edition.

AMHVoices: Stop violence against journalists

AMH Voices
The overzealous acts by the police must be condemned in no light terms.

It was disturbing to read that innocent citizens and NewsDay journalists were last week beaten up and taken into police custody by plain clothes policemen for taking photographs in Harare’s central business district.

By Pardon Maguta,Our Reader

OBEY

First of all, journalists are workers just like any others. It’s not a crime to be a journalist.

Secondly, even if it was a crime, no lethal force can be used unless one is resisting arrest.

The security of journalists doing their work must be a priority to the State.

No one must take the law into their own hands to stop journalists from doing their work, the police included.

The overzealous acts by the police must be condemned in no light terms. The police must stop victimising innocent people. Unless the area is clearly marked that no photographs can be taken, how does the police justify the arrests?

Even civilians have the right to take photos anywhere in town, unless the area is marked protected or otherwise. The attack on NewsDay journalists has sparked fears of an onslaught on private media journalists, as we head towards the 2018 national polls, with most people seeing it as a way of censoring them from properly discharging their duties.

No journalists, whether from the public, private, foreign media or freelance, must be hindered from doing his work, as long as he is properly and legally accredited to work in Zimbabwe. The plain clothes police officers, who beat up these journalists must face the full wrath of the law without fear or favour.