May 23, 2003
His Excellency President Robert Mugabe
Harare, Zimbabwe
c/o High Commission in Canada
Email: zim.highcomm@sympatico.ca
May 19, 2003
Your Excellency,
We are writing on behalf of the World Association of Newspapers and the World Editors Forum, which represent 18,000 publications in 100 countries, to express our serious concern at the deportation of journalist Andrew Meldrum.
According to reports, on May 16 Mr Meldrum, correspondent of the London-based The Guardian, was deported from Zimbabwe after 23 years. Earlier that day, Mr Meldrum had been called to a meeting with immigration officials who ordered him to leave the country. As he spoke to reporters outside the immigration building, police grabbed him by the collar, pushed him into an unmarked car, and drove him to the airport.
On May 7, immigration officials had appeared at his Harare home after dark, demanding to question him. Mr Meldrum was not there, but his lawyer said that she suspected that they may have been trying to deport him. On May 13, immigration officials confiscated his residence permit and passport, and told him that he was only allowed to write about economics and tourism.
Mr Meldrum's expulsion follows a series of attempts by the authorities to silence him, including an unsuccessful attempt to deport him last year after he was acquitted of charges of publishing falsehoods.
We respectfully remind you that the deportation of Mr Meldrum constitutes a clear breach of his right to freedom of expression, which is guaranteed by numerous international conventions, including Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which states: 'Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes the freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media, regardless of frontiers.'
We respectfully call on you to rescind the order to deport Mr Meldrum immediately, and to permit him to carry out his profession in Zimbabwe, free from harassment. We urge you to ensure that in future your country fully respects international standards of freedom of expression.
We look forward to hearing from you at your earliest convenience.
Yours sincerely,
Seok Hyun Hong
President
World Association of Newspapers
Gloria Brown Anderson
President
World Editors Forum
All letters published on the open Letter Forum are the views and opinions of the submitters, and do not represent the official viewpoint of Justice for Agriculture.