Harare - The lawyer for two foreign journalists arrested
while covering Zimbabwe's elections made an urgent application Sunday
for the release of the two men on the third day of their detention.
Barry Bearak, a correspondent for the New York Times and Stephen
Bevan, a freelance journalist with the Sunday Telegraph, were
arrested on Thursday night during a police raid on a tourist lodge in
Harare in an attempted crackdown on the scores of foreign journalists
covering the elections without accreditation.
President Robert Mugabe's media authorities granted accreditation
to only a handful of foreign journalists from what they called
'friendly countries.'
Lawyer Beatrice Mtetwa filed papers in the High Court in Harare
after being told by police that the pair now faced 'new charges' of
'illegally observing elections without accreditation.'
The government banned all Western countries from sending
observers, issuing invitations to only 17 countries that included
Sudan, Russia, Iran and China.
Bearak and Bevan were initially accused under draconian media laws
that impose penalties of up to two years in jail for working without
official accreditation, of allegedly 'holding themselves up as
accredited journalists.'
The attorney-general found no case against them and they were
supposed to be released on Friday, said Mtetwa.
'But police refused (to release them), on the basis they were
waiting for orders from above. Then yesterday (Saturday) they brought
new charges.'
The new charges carry penalties ranging from a fine to two years
in prison. The court has not yet issued a date for their hearing.
Asked about their condition at Harare central police station,
Mtetwa said as 'ok as one can be in that filthy place.'
In the last elections in 2005, two journalists from Britain's
Sunday Telegraph were arrested under the notorious media laws, but
were acquitted when police were unable to produce evidence against
them.
Last year, a journalist from Time magazine was arrested, held for
a few days and released after paying a small fine.
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