In a letter to President Robert Mugabe and Justice Minister Patrick Chinamasa, the press groups said that the refusal to renew the passport of Mr Trevor Ncube, owner of the Zimbabwe Independent and Zimbabwe Standard newspapers, was "a blatant and transparent attempt to close his newspapers since (....) foreigners cannot own publications in Zimbabwe."

WAN and WEF called for the ceasing of the "indefensible persecution" of Mr Ncube, who represents South Africa on the WAN Board, as owner of the Mail and Guardian newspaper and President of the Newspaper Association of South Africa.

The full text of the letter is as follows:

"Sirs,

We are writing to condemn the withdrawal of Zimbabwean citizenship from Mr Trevor Ncube, owner of the Zimbabwe Independent and Zimbabwe Standard newspapers and to call on you to reverse this measure immediately by instructing that his passport be renewed.

Mr Ncube, who is a Board member of the World Association of Newspapers, has clearly been stripped of his citizenship in a blatant and transparent attempt to close his newspapers since, as you are aware, foreigners cannot own publications in Zimbabwe.

Mr Ncube was born and raised in Zimbabwe and is clearly entitled to citizenship of your country; he holds no other citizenship. A year ago, your government already seized his passport, a move that was overturned by the courts. This deplorable and indefensible persecution of Mr Ncube must cease.

The World Association of Newspapers and the World Editors Forum, together with the whole international community, have repeatedly protested and condemned the numerous actions that you have taken to seriously limit freedom of the press in Zimbabwe. This latest move against the owner of the last independent newspapers in your country removes any remaining doubt that your objective is the complete elimination of free expression.

We call on you to urgently reinstate Trevor Ncube’s Zimbabwean citizenship and by doing so give a clear message that you remain attached to the democratic values of a free press.

Yours sincerely,

Gavin O’Reilly President World Association of Newspapers

George Brock President World Editors Forum"

The Paris-based WAN, the global organisation for the newspaper industry, represents 18,000 newspapers; its membership includes 76 national newspaper associations, newspaper companies and individual newspaper executives in 102 countries, 12 news agencies and 10 regional and world-wide press groups.

Inquiries to: Larry Kilman, Director of Communications, WAN, 7 rue Geoffroy St Hilaire, 75005 Paris France. Tel: +33 1 47 42 85 00. Fax: +33 1 47 42 49 48. Mobile: +33 6 10 28 97 36. E-mail: lkilman@wan.asso.fr