Johannesburg — An American journalist, who was acquitted Monday in Zimbabwe on charges of publishing a false story under stringent new media laws, is appealing against his deportation from the country.
A High Court hearing on the expulsion was scheduled for Tuesday morning.
Andrew Meldrum, 50, the correspondent of Britains Guardian newspaper, said he was given 24 hours to leave Zimbabwe, minutes after being cleared by Judge Godfrey Macheyo. "The government has told me they have revoked my permanent residence permit," Meldrum told reporters after meeting Zimbabwean immigration officials.
He has lived in Zimbabwe for 22 years. "This is consistent with a government that is trying to stop me from reporting what is going on here, and from doing what journalists do," Meldrum said.
Shortly after the disputed presidential poll in Zimbabwe in March this year, which saw the re-election of President Robert Mugabe, the authorities passed draconian media legislation which critics complained was a strategy to muzzle the press.
Meldrum was the first of more than a dozen journalists to face trial for allegedly publishing falsehoods. He was arrested in May after filing a report that a woman had been killed, beheaded in front of her two children, by supporters of Mugabes Zanu-PF party. The story first appeared in Zimbabwes privately owned Daily News. Both newspapers later retracted the report when it was found to be untrue.
Finding Meldrum not guilty, the judge said he "acted like a reasonable journalist and tried to verify the story. He tried to contact the police who could not confirm the story to him. It cannot be reasonably said that he had a guilty intention."
"I feel vindicated. I am delighted. The case has succeeded in showing the state is trying to pervert the rule of law to stamp out a free press," said Meldrum, adding that he hoped his acquittal would help the 12 other journalists facing similar charges of publishing false information. "I will not be happy until they are acquitted and this law is struck from the books."
The editor of the Guardian newspaper. Alan Rusbridger. called Meldrums expulsion "an extremely serious blow to the operation of a free and independent media in Zimbabwe. We urge the international community publicly to condemn this decision." A Guardian statement "utterly deplored" developments and noted that the deportation order was signed on 3 July, "suggesting there was never any intention of a just result."
In Washington, the U.S. State Department spokesman, Richard Boucher, said they were pleased with the acquittal, "however, the decision to deport him (Meldrum) is not compatible with the internationally recognised human rights of freedom of expression and freedom of the press."
The International Press Institute, based in Vienna, said in a letter to Mugabe that it was "deeply disturbed". It said that "by seeking to deport Meldrum, the government of Zimbabwe is indicating that it stands outside the rule of law. In deciding to act in this manner, the government has shorn itself of the last vestiges of democratic behaviour and rightly stands condemned."
Meldrums lawyer, Beatrice Mtetwa, described the decision to expel him as further harassment. "In this country (Zimbabwe), you get acquitted and then deported and the government still has the last laugh," she said.
The authorities have faced strong criticism, in and outside the country, for imposing strict and authoritarian laws which they say curb press freedom. The legislation restricts how journalists work and what they can report. The Mugabe government argues that the new legislation will force journalists to respect "ethical behaviour" and should prevent "abuse of journalistic privilege". Being found guilty of the offence could mean two years in jail.
The U.S. State Department spokesman said: "Intimidation and harassment of journalists have continued unabated since the fundamentally flawed March presidential election." Two other foreign correspondents were given orders to leave Zimbabwe last year. Other reporters have been refused work permit renewals or visas to enter the country.
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Meldrum said his trial "exposed that the government is trying to prevent the press from reporting the truth in this country about misrule, corruption and abuse of power."
His court victory was widely considered a test case and will come as a boost for the other journalists still awaiting trial. The Foreign Correspondents Association of Southern Africa welcomed Meldrums acquittal, but called on the Harare government "to reverse this unreasonable and unjust expulsion order."
Zimbabwe government officials were not available for comment. Meldrums trial comes at a time of turmoil in the country, which is facing a social, political and economic crisis, as well as drought. Analysts say Zimbabwe risks becoming a pariah state, with the growing international isolation of Mugabe, who has been in power for 21 years.
