Lawyer says arrested Zimbabwe journalist needs hospital care

Apr 17, 2008, 9:12 GMT

Harare - Lawyers representing a freelance Zimbabwean journalist, who was arrested during Tuesday's general strike, filed an urgent application in the High Court Thursday to have him taken to hospital.

Frank Chikowore was arrested in Harare and charged with arson after a bus was burnt during the strike that the opposition Movement for Democratic Change called to press for results from last month's elections.

Local journalists told the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists he was covering the strike that was largely ignored by Zimbabweans when he was arrested with 14 others.

Police say they arrested 42 people during the strike for 'public violence.' The MDC says more than 50 of its supporters were arrested.

Harrison Nkomo, a lawyer representing Chikowore said: 'He is unwell because the (Harare central police station) cells are filthy and full. He has abdominal and chest pains so he has to see a medical doctor immediately.

'The police have been with him for two days now and they have not officially notified us of the charge he is facing,' Nkomo said calling for Chikowore to be brought before a court.

Chikowore was previously arrested in 2005 for filming a police crackdown on street vendors in Harare.