The local branches in the northern Mozambican province of Niassa of the journalists' union (SNJ) and of the press freedom body, MISA (Media Institute of Southern Africa), have condemned the detention for 10 hours on Saturday of reporter Fabiao Mondlane, according to a report in Tuesday's issue of the Maputo daily "Noticias".
Mondlane, who works on the independent Niassa paper "Faisca", and is also correspondent for one of the Maputo weeklies, "Demos", was arrested in the provincial capital.
Lichinga, on the orders of the provincial chief attorney, Domingos Telha.
Telha claimed that Mondlane libelled him in an article on corruption in the provincial attorney's office published in "Faisca" last Thursday.
But the person who made the corruption allegation was Alice Mabota, chairperson of the Mozambican Human Rights League (LDH), who was on a visit to Niassa. "Faisca" cited her as saying, at a press conference, that there was "unprecedented corruption" in Telha's office, and that Attorney-General Joaquim Madeira should take "urgent measures" to bring the situation to an end.
Mabota said she had every intention of telling Madeira of what she had seen and heard in Niassa. She confirmed that the corruption consisted of illegal charges made by officials in the provincial attorney's office, including Telha himself.
"These are proven cases of the involvement of state officials in schemes of easy enrichment", she declared.
When the article on Mabota's claims, and an accompanying editorial, were published, Telha signed a warrant for Mondlane's immediate arrest on libel charges.
This was unprecedented. AIM is not aware of any other case in the history of independent Mozambique in which a journalist has been thrown into jail merely because a legal official has felt defamed by one of his articles.
The SNJ and MISA both regarded the arrest as a violation of Mozambique's press law. They believed that Mondlane was detained solely because he complied with his duty as a journalist to inform the public of a matter of public interest.
Mondlane later said he had been thrown into a dank and foul- smelling cell alongside people accused of such serious crimes as armed robbery and mutilation.
He was released 10 hours later by the director of the Lichinga prison, who told him he had received orders to set him free because the arrest was illegal. Mondlane was even given a ride home in a police car.
Interviewed by the pro-Renamo newsheet "Imparcial", Mondlane accused Telha of "abuse of power". He noted that several other of the media had reported Mabota's statements, including Radio Mozambique and Mozambican Television (TVM). "Why didn't they arrest the other journalists who published what Mabota said ?", he asked.
Mondlane recalled that the official who served the arrest warrant had told him he was being jailed because he had written "filth" against the provincial attorney.
The Lichinga police have also been questioning a local photographer, Feliciano Wiriamo, who published a photograph of a group of criminals attacking a woman.
According to "Faisca" editor Santos Mante, the police wanted to know how Wiriamo had taken the photograph without being involved in the crime. Mante regarded such offensive questions as intimidatory, and a denial of press freedom.
Fonte: AIM
