Posted on 06/28/2002 3:44:30 AM PDT by Clive
Zimbabwe's government wants to dismiss a state prosecutor who has recommended a fine instead of a jail term for a British journalist charged with publishing "false news" .
Sources in the ministry of justice have confirmed a report by the state-owned Herald newspaper that the government is investigating the prosecutor, Thabani Mpofu.
Mpofu told the court during Andrew Meldrum's trial last week that if the journalist for the Guardian was convicted, the state would recommend that he be fined and would not seek a jail term.
The sources said Mpofu's remarks had incensed Minister of Information Jonathan Moyo, who wanted to see Meldrum jailed.
Moyo complained to the Minister of Justice, Patrick Chinamasa, said a ministry source.
"(Moyo) accused Mpofu of going soft on the Meldrum case," said the source.
"He is talking of Mpofu's involvement in a British conspiracy to acquit Meldrum. Moyo and Chinamasa want Mpofu fired."
Efforts to reach Chinamasa for comment failed.
Moyo has banned interviews with journalists working for the independent press.
The charges against Meldrum arose from a report that supporters of President Robert Mugabe had decapitated a woman in front of her two daughters.
The story appeared in the Daily News and was distributed by other news organisations. It later turned out that the information given to the newspaper was false.
The Daily News retracted the story.
But the government went on to arrest Meldrum and journalists at the Daily News.
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