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Journalists outraged after Mugabe guards let off

A judicial review has been urged against the government's decision not to prosecute two bodyguards protecting the daughter of Zimbabwean president Robert Mugabe for allegedly assaulting two photographers outside her Tai Po home.

A legislator has urged the administration to review the Department of Justice's decision over the bodyguards working for 20-year-old Bona Mugabe. The Hong Kong Journalists Association has described the decision as 'harmful to press freedom'.

The bodyguards - a man named Mapfumo Marks and a woman called Manyaira Reliance Pepukai - are accused of assaulting Colin Galloway and Tim O'Rourke on February 13 outside the house where Ms Mugabe is living while studying in the city.

The photographers, working for a British newspaper investigating the Mugabe family's links to Hong Kong, complained to police after O'Rourke was allegedly grabbed by the neck and Galloway gripped and bruised by a man in his 30s.

The incident came just a month after Ms Mugabe's mother, Grace, allegedly assaulted another photographer, Richard Jones, who took pictures of her shopping in Tsim Sha Tsui. The Department of Justice later ruled she had diplomatic immunity and could not be prosecuted.

In the case of the bodyguards, the department said on Monday they would not be prosecuted as they had acted the way they did because they were 'genuinely concerned for the safety of Miss Mugabe'.

Michael Vidler, the lawyer representing the two photographers, yesterday described the decision as 'a bodyguards' charter' and said: 'We are looking into the possibility of a judicial review. Our press are here to ensure accountability and transparency. If people who have the money to pay for bodyguards can attack any journalist who they can later say they perceived as a threat to their safety, where will that leave us?'

The chairman of the Hong Kong Journalists Association, Camoes Tam Chi-keung, said: 'We are very angry. We regret that the government has not charged Mugabe's bodyguards. It is obviously harmful to Hong Kong's press freedom.

'Mrs [Grace] Mugabe may be entitled to diplomatic protection but the bodyguards are not entitled to it ... I think this is a political decision.'

Dr Tam added: 'The legislative council ought to call a meeting to scrutinise and review this case. We cannot intervene [in the judicial process] but we can criticise the decision and propose action that the government should take.'

Legislator Emily Lau Wai-hing said the decision not to prosecute was regrettable. 'It will send out a negative signal that bodyguards can feel free to beat people up, which is very worrying,' she said. 'People may get the message that if you rough up journalists in the name of protecting your client it is okay.

'Journalists have their work to do. If a person is in the news people may wish to take pictures, and I can't see how these journalists would have posed a threat to Miss Mugabe. This is really quite astounding.'

The administration should explain the decision, and 'legislators should debate it', she said.

A spokeswoman for the Department of Justice said: 'We have every respect for press freedom but it is also our duty to properly assess the evidence and circumstances of a case.

'The decision not to prosecute in this case certainly does not mean it is lawful for bodyguards protecting VIPs to 'rough up' people. Each case has to be considered on its own merits.'

Galloway, a Briton, said the suggestion the bodyguards had acted out of concern for Miss Mugabe was ridiculous. 'She [Bona Mugabe] was nowhere to be seen,' he said.

O'Rourke, an American, said: 'I am not surprised by the decision but what does it say about Hong Kong and freedom of the press? It looks pretty bad.'

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