(Last Updated on June 9, 2021 by ZIMDAILY EDITOR)
BULAWAYO – Zimbabwe correspondent, Jeffrey Moyo, was denied bail on the basis that he “poses a flight risk and is a threat to national security”.
He is back at the High Court tomorrow for his bail appeal.
Moyo who has been in jail since his arrest was remanded in custody to 10 June at Bulawayo Prison.
Zimbabwe authorities should not contest journalist Jeffrey Moyo’s appeal of a recent ruling denying him bail and should drop the criminal case against him, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ).
Doug Coltart, the journalist’s lawyer, told CPJ that Magistrate Rachel Mukanga agreed with prosecutors that Moyo was a flight risk, and “threat to national security” and that the country’s “sovereignty was undermined because foreign journalists interviewed Zimbabweans.”
Authorities arrested Moyo in the capital, Harare, on May 26 and charged him with violating Section 36 of Zimbabwe’s Immigration Act by allegedly helping two New York Times journalists, Christina Goldbaum and Joao Silva, obtain false media accreditations.
If convicted, Moyo could face up to 10 years in jail, according to those reports.
Coltart said Moyo’s defense team planned to appeal to the High Court in Harare. said Angela Quintal, CPJ’s Africa program coordinator, in New York.
Angela Quintal, Committee to Protect Journalists’ Africa program coordinator, said in New York:
Zimbabwean authorities should recognize that New York Times freelancer Jeffrey Moyo has not threatened the country’s national security, and should not contest his appeal for bail.
It is only because of Zimbabwean authorities’ paranoia about international media coverage that Moyo is facing up to a decade in jail on spurious charges.
In an emailed statement to CPJ, New York Times spokesperson Danielle Rhoades Ha said the paper was deeply disappointed by the magistrate’s decision and urged the High Court to grant Moyo bail