By Ryan Aliman
Impunity Watch Reporter, Africa

HARARE, Zimbabwe – On Tuesday, the Zimbabwean police announced that the government is banning the possession of “specially designed radios” and similar communication devices.

According to sources, the ban applies to devices such as small radio receivers and smart phones that tune into stations not linked to the country’s state broadcaster.

According to the police spokesperson Assistant Commissioner Charity Charamba, non-governmental organizations (NGO’s) and political parties are using these devices to spread “hate speech” against the administration that might influence the March referendum and elections this year.

“[These groups] have the intention to sow seeds of disharmony within the country especially now that the country is about to embark on the referendum and harmonized elections,” Charamba told journalists during last week’s press conference.

Media watchdog Misa-Zimbabwe condemned the ban, challenging its legality.

“It is an illegal ban to start with. There is no law which proscribes ownership and distribution of the receivers in the country,” asserted Misa-Zimbabwe director Nhlanhla Ngwenya.

Ngwenya described the prohibition as an “act of cowardice by people who feel threatened by the free flow of information.” He also suggested that it is the government’s way of blocking news and information from radio stations who have openly criticized the President and his administration.

Furthermore, Ngwenya said that the law was vague because it failed to specify which “communications devices” are banned and on what basis are they or their distribution deemed illegal.

“It is not clear as yet, on what basis possession of devices such as radios meant to receive broadcasting services can be deemed illegal. A reading of Section 38B of the Broadcasting Services Act states that one is not prohibited from possession of a receiver as long as it is in accordance with the terms and conditions of a listener’s license as issued by the Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation (ZBC),” Ngwenya explained.

“The importance of a radio set cannot be over-emphasised as it is a generally affordable gadget used for receiving information by the public. The right to receive and impart information and ideas is enshrined in Section 20 of the current constitution as a vital component of citizens’ right to freedom of expression,” he added.

Finally, Ngwenya said that Misa-Zimbabwe is currently working with other civil society groups to urge the government to repeal the prohibition. One of these groups, Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights (ZLHR), indicated its intention to assail the law’s constitutionality in court.

“The lengths to which State institutions and actors are now going to deny fundamental rights and freedoms and act outside the law is alarming, but is typical of paranoid State authorities who are contemptuous of any diversity of opinion and information,” stated ZLHR in a recent press release.

 

For further information, please see:

All Africa – Zimbabwe: Ban On Radio Receivers Sparks Outcry – 24 February 2013

New Zimbabwe – Media groups slam police radio crackdown – 24 February 2013

Sunday Monitor – Zimbabwe police ban radios – 24 February 2013

The Zimbabwean – Media Alliance Zimbabwe condemns radio sets ban – 23 February 2013

News Day – Police under fire over radios – 21 February 2013

By Hannah Stewart
Impunity Watch Reporter, Africa

CONCORD, New Hampshire — A New Hampshire jury on Thursday convicted a Rwandan woman of lying about her role in the 1994 genocide in her home country to acquire U.S. citizenship.

Beatrice Munyenyezi, 43, had her citizenship revoked by a federal judge and will face sentencing in June for two counts of fraudulently obtaining her U.S. citizenship status.  Jurors deliberated for less than five hours Thursday before convicting Munyenyezi .

Upon hearing the verdicts, Munyenyezi put her head down on the defense table and wept.  Her 18 year-old daughter sobbed as she left the courtroom, while her two other daughters were not present.

Munyenyezi is back behind bars, where she spent 22 months between her indictment in 2010 and the jury deadlocking in her first trial last year.  She was released to home confinement in Manchester the month after that mistrial.

According to the Justice Department, she now faces up to 10 years in prison, a $250,000 fine on each count and possible deportation.

Munyenyezi, who was not on trial for war crimes, was found guilty of intentionally lying about her role in the infamous slaughter in which ethnic Hutu militants viciously slaughtered their Tutsi counterparts over a three-month period.  While a true number has never been established, many report that the unexpected genocide resulted in the death of approximately one million Rwandans.

The same team of prosecutors who obtained the guilty verdict in Munyenyezi’s case also secured a conviction against her sister last summer in Boston on charges of fraudulently obtaining a visa to enter the United States by lying about her own Hutu political party affiliations.

Munyenyezi is thought to be married to former militia leader Arsene Shalom Ntahobali, who was convicted of war crimes by the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) and sentenced to life in prison last year.  She is thought to have lived in the hotel and helped pick out those who arrived at a nearby checkpoint to be executed or raped.

At trial, prosecutors brought in Butare residents who placed Munyenyezi at a roadblock where Tutsis were identified by the ethnicity listed on their Rwandan identification cards and ordered which ones were to be killed.  The prosecutors did not rely upon a handful of Rwandan prisoners serving life sentences for murders and rapes during the genocide.  Other witnesses testified that they saw her in the clothing worn by leaders of the extremist Hutu political party.

Moreover, Ntahobali’s mother was also convicted by the ICTR and sentenced to life in prison in June 2011 for genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes of violence.  She was a cabinet minister in the Hutu-dominated Rwandan government when the genocide began in early April 1994.

For more information, please see:

ABC – Convicted NH Woman Might be Sent Back to Rwanda – 22 February 2013

Fox News – NH Woman Convicted of Masking Role in 1994 Rwanda Genocide Faces Prison, Might be Deported – 22 February 2013

Huffington Post – Beatrice Munyenyezi Lied About Her Role in Rwanda Genocide; Faces Deportation from New Hampshire – 22 February 2013

Washington Post – Jurors Convict NH Woman of Lying About Role in Rwanda Genocide to get Citizenship – 22 February 2013

By Heba Girgis
Impunity Watch Reporter, Africa

NAIROBI, Kenya—Kenya’s Chief Justice Willy Mutunga says that he has recently been threatened with “dire consequences” if the courts decide to bar presidential candidate Uhuru Kenyatta from contesting the next election which is to take place in March.

Muntunga made a public statement that he will not be cowed by these threats and harassment. Specifically, Mutungra said yesterday that he received a threatening letter. This letter not only mentioned Kenyatta, but also another one of the nation’s leaders who both face trial at the International Criminal Court. Mutunga further noted that he was almost prevented from travelling to Tanzania by an immigration official who believed that this trip was an act of politics. Mutunga concluded that this was deliberate harassment. He is convinced that it is political and noted that “public accountability requires” making it public.

The case before the International Criminal Court stems from certain allegations that Kenyatta fueled the violence that followed the disputed presidential elections in 2007. Kenyatta denies these allegations. Kenyatta and his running mate, William Ruto, are due for trial at The Hague about one month after the March 4th elections. More than 1,000 people died in this violence that swept through the country after the 2007 election.

Political pressure groups have asked Kenya’s high court to disqualify the pair from contesting the election because of the pending International Criminal Court case.

Mutunga commented on these threats saying, “These incidents evidence a pattern of emerging harassment against my person, the Office of the Chief Justice, and the judiciary.” He continued saying, “No fewer than five judges have been attacked in the recent past.” He also noted that judicial officers were being politically intimidated.

The Judge has announced that he has sent this letter to the Inspector General of Police, the Director of the Criminal Investigations Department, Director of the National Intelligence Service, and the Director of Public Prosecutions asking each of them to investigate the matter and give Kenya a progress report on the investigation. “I am also asking the inspector General of Police to take the necessary steps to enhance the security of judges and other judicial officers at this time,” he said.

Mutunga said that a total of five judges have been attacked recently before the March elections.

 

For further information, please see:

BBC News – Kenya’s Willy Mutunga Threatened Over Kenyatta Case – 20 February 2013

Bloomberg – Kenya’s Chief Justice Gets Death Threat Over Kenyatta ICC Case – 20 February 2013

Capital News – Kenya CJ Reveals Threat, State Intimidation – 20 February 2013

Fox News – Kenya’s Chief Justice Reveals Threats – 20 February 2013

By Hannah Stewart
Impunity Watch Reporter, Africa

YAOUNDE, Cameroon — On Tuesday, Nigerian Islamic militants abducted a French family of seven, including four children in northern Cameroon.  Reports state that the family has been taken across the border into Nigeria.

Reports state that men on motorcycles, armed with Kalashnikovs, intercepted the family in their car near Waza National Park and forced them to drive to the nearby Nigerian border

Waza Park, a natural wildlife reserve in the Far North Region attracts mainly foreign tourists. However, the area suffers from abduction raids by groups in Cameroon, Chad and Nigeria; these bandits often kidnap locals for ransom.

Given France’s involvement in Mali to oust Islamic rebels in the north, the risk of attacks on French nationals and interests in Africa has risen in the last month.

French President Francois Hollande, speaking during a visit to Greece, warned French citizens in West Africa to avoid putting themselves in dangerous situations.  Hollande noted that while France is engaged in a military campaign in Mali, terrorists “are not just in Mali.”

As of today, a total of 15 French citizens are currently being held in western Africa: the seven abducted in Cameroon, one other in Nigeria, and seven thought to be held in northern Mali.

Moreover, the abduction of the French family came a day after an Islamist group in Nigeria claimed responsibility for taking seven foreigners hostage at a construction site in the northern state of Bauchi.

The group that calls itself Ansaru issued a short statement about the kidnapping in northern Nigeria over the weekend, hinting at political motivations for kidnapping what Nigerian authorities say are one British citizen, one Greek, one Italian, three Lebanese and one Filipino, who reportedly work for Setraco Nigeria Ltd.

This series of kidnappings have added to fears of instability and danger toward Westerners in the region.

For more information, please see:

Bloomberg – French Kidnapped in Cameroon Were Taken Into Nigeria – 19 February 2013

CBS – Militants Kidnap French Family of 7 in Cameroon, Officials Say – 19 February 2013

Chicago Tribune – Militants Kidnap French Family in North Cameroon – 19 February 2013

Reuters – Militants Kidnap French Family in North Cameroon – 19 February 2013