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The Mozambican government has banned people from filming scenes of accidents or disaster before calling in emergency authorities to provide assistance.
The measure, aimed at changing the attitudes of citizens who only take photos of accidents or other emergency situations and publish them on social media, is part of the new National Public Safety Service law passed in December last year and took effect recently.
Those who failed to comply would be liable to pay a fine of an amount up to a 100 times the country’s minimum wage of $125.
Mozambican head of the fire brigade Leonildo Pelembe said that was if an investigation proved that a person who disseminated the images was at the scene but did not inform the authorities.
A person providing false information about a particular incident might also face criminal prosecution, according to the spokesperson for the national criminal investigation authority.
“For example, in a case where an individual appears in the media saying that the firefighters arrived late and there is no way to prove it,” he explained.
While the new measure was now in effect, a regulation on how it was to be implemented was being drafted to include details of when an offence deserved minimum or maximum punishment. – AIM-New Ziana
Online Reporter