Journalists charged over military story
HARARE – Police in Zimbabwe arrested the editor of a private newspaper over a report that suggested army commanders loyal to President Robert Mugabe were not opposed to Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai winning elections expected this year.
The arrest is the latest sign of mounting political tension as a five-year coalition brokered between Mugabe and Tsvangirai after violent elections in 2008 comes to an end, paving the way toward polls in the second half of the year.
Dumisani Muleya, editor of the Zimbabwe Independent, had been charged with publishing falsehoods, an offense which carries a maximum 20-year jail term, his lawyer, Tawanda Zhuwarara, said.
Independent reporter Owen Gagare and a company official were charged with the same offense, Zhuwarara said. The three denied the charges before being released from Harare’s main police station.
The army has publicly denied speaking to officials from Tsvangirai’s Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) and police have said that journalists who repeat the allegation could fall foul of the southern African nation’s tough media laws.
Tsvangirai has had a frosty relationship with military commanders who have said they will not salute a president who did not take part in Zimbabwe’s 1970s independence war. Tsvangirai did not fight in the war.
In March, police arrested prominent human rights lawyer Beatrice Mtetwa and aides from Tsvangirai’s office a day after Zimbabweans voted in a referendum for a new constitution curbing presidential powers. Reuters
