"Little did I know that by end of that day, I would be part of the statistics"

21 Jan 10 | Uncategorized

Zimonline carries the heartbreaking testimony of Index on Censorship contributor Stanley Kwenda, who was forced to flee Zimbabwe after receiving threats last week:

Friday began with the normal routine, which means grabbing all the newspapers I can lay my hands on just to check what’s happening around.

I had just received a copy of British-based Index on Censorship 2009 Review. From the moment I flipped open the first chapter, I could never put the book down.

The stories told in the book of how some journalists elsewhere in the world have stood up to tyranny — with some even getting killed in the process — in order to be able to practise their profession are encouraging.

Although, I must admit, there is something quite disturbing about knowing that someone could order your death simply because you dared tell a story.

Somewhere, on one of the pages of the Index, there was a long list of journalists who have either been harassed, incarcerated or lost their lives in the line of duty. Interestingly, some of them were from Zimbabwe — and little did I know that by end of that day, I would be part of the statistics.

Read the rest here.

And read Stanley Kwenda’s Index article on Zimbabwean censorship here