Four directors of the company that publishes Zimbabwe’s banned Daily News have been remanded on bail by a magistrate in Harare.
The magistrate said there were reasonable grounds to believe an offence was committed when the directors of Associated Newspapers of Zimbabwe allegedly authorised the publication of the paper without a licence.
The four remanded to reappear on 6 February were chief executive Sam Nkomo, finance director Brian Mutsau and directors Stuart Mattinson and Rachael Kupara.
They were remanded on ZIM$50,000 bail. Lawyers acting for The Daily News argued the arrest and charging of the directors was illegal.
The four directors were arrested two weeks ago, following the publication of The Daily News on 25 October, a day after the administrative court ruled that ANZ should be granted a licence to publish in Zimbabwe.
The Daily News was closed down by the police, who raided the paper’s office in September, after the Supreme Court ruled that ANZ should register with the government-appointed Media and Information Commission.
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