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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. The Minister for Africa tweeted on 23 July to express his
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.
The British Ambassador to Harare has sought a meeting with the Zimbabwean Foreign
Minister, Sibusiso Moyo, to discuss our concerns, and officials at the British Embassy
in Harare are closely following developments on his case. When the Minister for Africa
spoke to the Zimbabwean Foreign Minister on 8 June, he urged him to ensure the Government
of Zimbabwe makes concrete progress on human rights and respects the rule of law.</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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