Mugabe approves law monitoring Internet, phones

HARARE – President Robert Mugabe has approved a law that will give the government sweeping powers to monitor the Internet and mobile and fixed telephones in a country where the independent press has been gagged.

The official Herald newspaper said on Saturday that the Interception of Communications Act would allow the government to ‘sift for information it deems subversive or used for organised crime’. The law allows “certain communications to be intercepted or monitored in the course of their transmission through telecommunications or the postal service and sets up a monitoring and interception centre,” it said.Critics argue that the law will restrict freedom of speech still further and allow the secret police to monitor the communications of the political opposition, journalists and human rights activists.The government denies any sinister intent, saying it is for security reasons and merely puts its anti-terrorism legislation in line with international practice.Internet and mobile phone service providers would, at their own expense, have to provide the government with equipment to sort and intercept communications.”The minister of transport and communication will be mandated with issuing a warrant to authorised persons where there is reasonable suspicion that a serious offence has been or is being committed or that there is a threat to national security,” the Herald said.It said that the chief of defence intelligence, the head of Mugabe’s Department of National Security, the country’s police commissioner and the Zimbabwe Revenue Authority were all authorised to request the surveillance.Nampa-APThe law allows “certain communications to be intercepted or monitored in the course of their transmission through telecommunications or the postal service and sets up a monitoring and interception centre,” it said.Critics argue that the law will restrict freedom of speech still further and allow the secret police to monitor the communications of the political opposition, journalists and human rights activists.The government denies any sinister intent, saying it is for security reasons and merely puts its anti-terrorism legislation in line with international practice.Internet and mobile phone service providers would, at their own expense, have to provide the government with equipment to sort and intercept communications.”The minister of transport and communication will be mandated with issuing a warrant to authorised persons where there is reasonable suspicion that a serious offence has been or is being committed or that there is a threat to national security,” the Herald said.It said that the chief of defence intelligence, the head of Mugabe’s Department of National Security, the country’s police commissioner and the Zimbabwe Revenue Authority were all authorised to request the surveillance.Nampa-AP