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<p>The UK is deeply worried by the arrest of Hopewell Chin'ono on 20 July, and by
his continued detention. I tweeted on 23 July to express my concern at the treatment
of Mr Chin'ono and to urge the Zimbabwean authorities to uphold the right to freedom
of expression, as guaranteed by Zimbabwe's constitution. When I spoke to the Zimbabwean
Foreign Minister, Sibusiso Moyo, on 8 June, I urged him to ensure the Government of
Zimbabwe makes concrete progress on human rights and respects the rule of law. The
British Ambassador to Harare also met with the Zimbabwean Foreign Minister on Friday
14 August and raised our concerns. Officials at the British Embassy in Harare are
closely following developments on Mr Chin'ono's case.</p><p>The UK is committed to
the promotion of media freedom and the protection of journalists. Media freedom is
an essential quality of any open society. People must be allowed to discuss and debate
issues freely, to challenge their governments, and to make decisions informed by a
strong and robust media. Zimbabwe is one of the UK's Media Freedom Focus Countries:
we have called on the Government of Zimbabwe to commit to the Global Pledge on Media
Freedom and to end the harassment of journalists, improve legislation and work with
the international community to protect media freedom.</p>
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