The Bulawayo magistrates court gave on Tuesday Journalist Jeffrey Moyo a suspended two-year sentence and 200,000 Zimbabwe dollars fine (about $650 US dollars), according to a statement by media freedom advocacy group, the Media Institute of Southern Africa.
Police arrested Moyo in May of last year, accused him of providing fake credentials to two foreign journalists from a New York Times newspaper on a reporting trip to Zimbabwe. The two foreign journalists were deported, and Moyo was held for three weeks before being released on bail.
This is not a precedent in Zimbabwe as the East African nation has a history of prosecuting non-state media journalists, and many international correspondents were forbidden from working in the country during the late President Robert Mugabe's dictatorship.
However, when President Emmerson Mnangagwa assumed power in 2017, he promised to liberalize the media as part of democratic reforms. Opponents of the government, on the other hand, accuse him of breaking that promise.
In response, the Committee to Protect Journalists slammed the court's ruling, saying it demonstrates Zimbabwe's persistent suppression of the press.
"Today’s conviction of journalist Jeffrey Moyo is a monumental travesty of justice and shows how far press freedom has deteriorated in Zimbabwe under President Emmerson Mnangagwa,” Angela Quintal, CPJ’s Africa program coordinator, said in a statement.
