Mozambique: MISA condemns detention of STV journalist | Ibraimo Mbaruco missing since April 7 – AIM report

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Mozambique: MISA condemns detention of STV journalist | Ibraimo Mbaruco missing since April 7 – AIM report

8:50 CAT | 15 Apr 2020

File photo: Lusa

The Mozambican chapter of the regional press freedom body MISA (Media Institute of Southern Africa) has strongly condemned the illegal detention of Izidine Acha, a journalist of the independent television station, STV, on Tuesday, in Pemba, capital of the northern province of Cabo Delgado.

Soldiers seized Acha at about 09.00 and he was only set free about four hours later. When they abducted him, the soldiers took his mobile phone, which he had been using to take photos of operations under way in a Pemba neighbourhood. There is no law in Mozambique that forbids journalists, or anyone else, from taking photos in a public place.

When the soldiers released Acha, they erased the photos he had taken and warned him to “be careful”. They also told him not to reveal that he had been detained. The police spokesperson in Pemba gave the same message to Acha’s family.

Acha’s brother told MISA “the police spokesperson said that Izidine was not detained, and that information on his detention as just a misunderstanding”.

Acha himself told MISA that, after his detention, he had been held in a Pemba police station.

Palma Community Radio journalist Ibraimo Mbaruco still missing

The detention of Izidine Acha comes a week after the disappearance of Ibraimo Mbaruco, a journalist on Palma Community Radio. Mbaruco was abducted in the Cabo Delgado district of Palma when he was returning home from the radio between 18.00 and 19.00 (April 7). Immediately prior to his disappearance he sent a mobile phone text message to a colleague saying “I am surrounded by soldiers”.

All further attempts to contact him were fruitless and a week later there is still no information as to his whereabouts.

MISA noted that the express orders by the soldiers that Acha should not reveal his detention, and the attempt by the police to manipulate the information “are clear evidence that they knew their action was illegal, and that they were disobeying the norms and rules issued by their superiors”.

In its statement, MISA condemned “these acts of aggression against journalists”, and urged the government “to use every means to allow journalists to work in an environment of freedom”. It also called for the immediate release of Mbaruco.

These illegal detentions happened within days of 11 April, celebrated as the “Day of the Mozambican Journalist”, since it is the anniversary of the foundation of the National Union of Journalists (SNJ).

To mark the date, President Filipe Nyusi sent a message to the country’s journalists, assuring them that the government regards them as “undeniable partners in building a harmonious society anchored on the precepts which seek the promotion of good governance”.

Nyusi said the government will do all in its power “so that freedom of expression and of information remain an indispensable part of our democracy”.

Source: AIM