Zimbabwe: New threats to media freedom

Death threats allegedly made by a senior police officer to a journalist and the arrest of a photographer, all in the space of a few days, have heightened fears of a new onslaught on the country's media. Freelance journalist Stanley Kwenda fled Zimbabwe on Jan. 15 after receiving a death threat apparently from a senior police officer Chief Superintendent Chrispen Makedenge. Kwenda had "named and shamed" the policeman in a story published in The Zimbabwean newspaper. The story alleged that Makedenge's late wife's relatives had demanded to see the note she had allegedly left after she committed suicide. After spending the whole day reading articles about the violation of journalists' rights in the Index on Censorship 2009 Review, it never dawned on Kwenda's that by the end of that very day, he would be going through a similar experience. It seemed so unlikely that what he thought were rather long lists of journalists who had been harassed, incarcerated and killed would get longer with the addition of his own name.