Zimbabwe: Security officials defy High Court order allowing journalists to cover summit

'Security details and secretariat personnel at the ongoing Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) Heads of State and Government summit in Victoria Falls barred four freelance journalists from covering the event despite a High Court order granting them permission to do so without producing accreditation cards issued by the defunct Media and Information Commission (MIC). The four journalists, Stanley Gama, Valentine Maponga, Stanley Kwenda and Jealous Mawarire, arrived in the resort town on 7 June 2009 to cover the event but were turned away by security at the summit venue. Security officers insisted that the journalists, despite the production of the High Court order, could not cover the event as they were not on the Ministry of Media, Information and Publicity's list of journalists accredited to cover the summit.'

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URL Link: http://www.ifex.org/zimbabwe/2009/06/11/comesa_summit/

Author Organisation: IFEX