Arrested journalists freed

Three journalists detained while reporting a national strike were released on Wednesday, 24 hours after they were threatened with violence by riot police brandishing batons and tear gas, AP reported. No charges were filed. The three were arrested on Tuesday on accusations of hindering a police probe into attacks on three bakery delivery vans by strikers in Budiriro, a poor western Harare township. According to the report, officials at the Attorney General's office found no evidence to support the accusations.

The men arrested were Chris Mazivanhanga, 31, a cameraman with Associated Press Television News; Cornelius Nduna, 31, a reporter for the independent Zimbabwe Standard newspaper; and Tsvangirai Mukwhazi, 25, a photographer for the independent Daily News newspaper. The journalists said they were held in overcrowded, filthy police cells at the main Harare police station after denying the charges.

Their lawyer Innocent Chagonda described their detention overnight under minor "miscellaneous offenses" laws, carrying a fine of around US $9, as "most unusual and unwarranted". "In all my years in practice, I have seen nothing like it. The charges were unsustainable from the start and the state obviously agrees by releasing them," he said. "It is a clear case of wrongful arrest and deliberate harassment of the press."

Chagonda said the arrests appeared to be aimed at stopping the trio from covering the two-day strike called by labour unions to protest against escalating fuel prices and other living costs. The journalists were among 16 prisoners in a cell designed for six, the report said. There was no room to lie down and they crouched on a concrete floor all night without receiving blankets, the report added.

Mazivanhanga said the journalists had attempted to film riot police rounding up youths in the Budiriro township. "As we stopped, officers chased us. We reversed and drove away and they followed. They were going to beat us up if they caught us," he said. The three fled, with a riot police vehicle in pursuit, to a nearby police station for protection but once there, they were arrested. Equipment, tapes and films were seized.