In Zimbabwe, the police took a well-known journalist named Mr. Blessed Mhlanga away by force. They did not follow the proper rules. This action by the police can be called an unlawful arrest or even an abduction arranged by the government.
Abduction means taking someone away by using force or telling lies. Mr. Mhlanga was taken by force. The police used fake charges against him that do not make any sense. When a journalist talks to someone in an interview, the journalist cannot be blamed for what the other person says.
Mr. Mhlanga works for a media company. He is not the company's owner. He was just doing his job when he conducted the interview. If something wrong happened, the company he works for should be responsible, not him. This is called vicarious liability.
The company has directors and other people who approved the interview before it was shown on TV. The question is, are these people also being charged with a crime? If they are not, then the charges against Mr. Mhlanga are not real. They are fake.
Everyone has the right to be treated as innocent until proven guilty. This is an important rule of law. A journalist cannot be arrested just because the person they interviewed said something that might be considered a crime. The person who was interviewed should be the one who gets in trouble first, not the journalist.
The government thinks that the journalist helped the person they interviewed to say bad things. But before the journalist can be blamed, a court needs to decide if what the interviewee said was actually a crime. If the court has not decided this, then the journalist should not be arrested.
The government used state resources to take Mr. Mhlanga away. They are trying to hide behind the law, but this does not change the fact that it is an abduction. Calling it an arrest makes it seem okay, but it is not. There is no legal reason for this arrest. The government is just trying to scare journalists.
When the government argued against releasing Mr. Mhlanga on bail, they said silly things. They claimed he might commit the same crime again because the equipment used for the interview was not taken away. But the equipment belongs to the company he works for, not to him.
The government also said Mr. Mhlanga might interfere with witnesses who work with him. But this just shows he was doing his job, and the company has not said he did anything wrong. If there is a problem, the company should be the one to answer it.
This unfair treatment of Mr. Mhlanga is an example of the government trying to scare all journalists. We should all speak out against this kind of state-sponsored abduction. Mr. Mhlanga must be released.
Abduction means taking someone away by using force or telling lies. Mr. Mhlanga was taken by force. The police used fake charges against him that do not make any sense. When a journalist talks to someone in an interview, the journalist cannot be blamed for what the other person says.
Mr. Mhlanga works for a media company. He is not the company's owner. He was just doing his job when he conducted the interview. If something wrong happened, the company he works for should be responsible, not him. This is called vicarious liability.
The company has directors and other people who approved the interview before it was shown on TV. The question is, are these people also being charged with a crime? If they are not, then the charges against Mr. Mhlanga are not real. They are fake.
Everyone has the right to be treated as innocent until proven guilty. This is an important rule of law. A journalist cannot be arrested just because the person they interviewed said something that might be considered a crime. The person who was interviewed should be the one who gets in trouble first, not the journalist.
The government thinks that the journalist helped the person they interviewed to say bad things. But before the journalist can be blamed, a court needs to decide if what the interviewee said was actually a crime. If the court has not decided this, then the journalist should not be arrested.
The government used state resources to take Mr. Mhlanga away. They are trying to hide behind the law, but this does not change the fact that it is an abduction. Calling it an arrest makes it seem okay, but it is not. There is no legal reason for this arrest. The government is just trying to scare journalists.
When the government argued against releasing Mr. Mhlanga on bail, they said silly things. They claimed he might commit the same crime again because the equipment used for the interview was not taken away. But the equipment belongs to the company he works for, not to him.
The government also said Mr. Mhlanga might interfere with witnesses who work with him. But this just shows he was doing his job, and the company has not said he did anything wrong. If there is a problem, the company should be the one to answer it.
This unfair treatment of Mr. Mhlanga is an example of the government trying to scare all journalists. We should all speak out against this kind of state-sponsored abduction. Mr. Mhlanga must be released.
