Twice in the space of a month - on 20 March and 12 April - court officials descended on the "Faisca" offices in the provincial capital, Lichinga, and seized equipment, supposedly to pay for damages in two libel suits.
In all, these judicial raids cost "Faisca" four computers, four printers, a photocopier, a generator and a fax machine.
But the chairperson of the management board of Amanhecer, the cooperative that owns "Faisca", Manuel da Silva Quimbine, has vowed that the paper will not die.
Cited in Thursday's issue of the Beira daily "Diario de Mocambique", Quimbine said preparations are under way to resume publication, and the paper has appealed against the seizure.
"Maybe there are those that want to eclipse the voice of "Faisca" and of the press in general", he said, "but our journalists are determined that the paper will come out regularly, even if they have to use typewriters".
Currently, the provincial branch of the regional press freedom body MISA (Media Institute of Southern Africa) has come to the rescue, and articles for "Faisca" are being processed on MISA equipment.
The first libel case against "Faisca" concerned a woman named Matilde Sanato, allegly raped by a group of Tanzanians in February 2004. The assault was photographed by "Faisca" journalist, Feliciano Wiriamo, and published in the paper.
Sanato sued, and in the ensuing court case, in September 2005, both the men who attacked her, and Wiriamo, were jailed.
The judge ordered the paper to pay Sanato damages of 100,000 meticais (about 4,000 US dollars).
The second libel suit concerns a local politician, Francisco Macopa. A "Faisca" report said he carried a stamp of a political party in his pocket, and authenticated party material in the street. He sued, and was awarded 32,000 meticais in damages.
"Faisca"'s equipment was seized after the paper was unable to pay either of these debts.
Quimbine admitted that "Faisca" had printed some unprofessional articles, but he considered the court reaction to be "greatly exaggerated", particularly because the equipment seized is worth more than the damages awarded in the two cases.
He insisted that everything worth more than the sum awarded should be returned, while Amanhecer tried to raise the money to pay the damages.
"Right now it is not possible to pay the sum", said Quimbine.
MISA-Mozambique has condemned the court's actions as "premeditated judicial harassment", intended to bring about the closure of "Faisca".
SOURCE: AIM
