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Alert

Journalists removed from remand

(MISA/IFEX) - On 10 January 2005, journalists Vincent Kahiya, Dumisani Muleya, Iden Wetherell and Itai Dzamara, who were facing charges of criminal defamation, were removed from remand after the state failed to come up with a trial date.

The four journalists who work for the privately-owned "Zimbabwe Independent" newspaper had been on remand for almost a year on charges of criminally defaming President Robert Mugabe.

The charges arise from the weekly paper's 9 January 2004 edition, which claimed that President Mugabe had commandeered an aircraft to the Far East.

The story claimed that President Mugabe commandeered an Air Zimbabwe plane to Indonesia and Singapore while he was on leave in January 2004. The state alleges that the story was defamatory to the president, government and the community.

However, on 10 January 2005, exactly one year after the story in question was published, Magistrate Crema Chipere declined to further remand the journalists after the state failed to set their trial date. The magistrate said the state could still proceed by way of summons.

Kahiya, Wetherell, Muleya and Dzamara are the "Zimbabwe Independent"'s editor, special projects editor, news editor and reporter, respectively.