Making of a Nonperson

At the wedding three years ago of Journalist Peter Niesewand and Nonie Fogarty in Salisbury, Rhodesia, one of the guests quipped to the bride: "If he doesn't look after you, my dear, I'll have him restricted." The jocular threat came from Desmond Lardner-Burke, Minister of Justice, Law and Order. Niesewand has looked after his wife well enough, but for the past month he has been in jail under an order signed by Lardner-Burke. The vague grounds: the freelance reporter was "likely to commit acts prejudicial to public safety or public order." Free translation: the white-supremacist government of Ian Smith did not like what Niesewand had been writing, and has the dictatorial powers to squelch him.

The early-morning arrest and the incarceration at Gwelo Jail hardly came as a surprise. Niesewand, 28, was one of the few enterprising and influential newsmen still reporting regularly from Rhodesia. He ran a bureau representing the BBC, the Australian Broadcasting Commission, United Press International, Agence France-Presse and a number of London and South African newspapers. It was Niesewand who broke the story in 1971 of the arrest of former Prime Minister Garfield Todd, who was also considered a threat to public order. Niesewand published exclusives on government action against the African National Council, a black political group opposed to white rule.

Grinding Pressure. His phone has been tapped, his office and home searched by police, his official sources restricted by Information Minister P.K. van der Byl. In a letter to a friend before the arrest, Niesewand said: "The worst part is the grinding social pressure --not knowing whether one or both of us will be attacked for being Commie rats. As one lady put it at a recent dinner party, why don't I pull myself out of the slime in which I wallow?"

Van der Byl, one of the most extreme members of the government, obviously intends to eliminate all journalistic criticism. Several other newsmen have been expelled, prevented from re-entering the country or otherwise silenced. Late last week, in a proceeding closed to the public, Niesewand was charged with violating the Official Secrets Act. That could result in a jail term of up to five years. Because he is South African by birth, he could be deprived of Rhodesian citizenship and deported.

Meanwhile, he languishes in modified solitary confinement. His wife, pregnant with their second child, drives 340 miles each day to see him for one hour. Says Nonie: "He's bearing up well under the circumstances, but for a man as active as Peter, the routine is boring him to death." Back in the capital, he has already become a nonperson. Local newspapers and the government broadcasting system are forbidden to discuss his case or even mention his name.

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.