Editor, deputy jailed for naming abductors of activists

May 11, 2009, 23:12 GMT

Harare - The editor and news editor of one of Zimbabwe's main independent newspapers were arrested Monday and jailed overnight after publishing the names of secret agents involved in the abduction of opposition and civic activists, lawyers and colleagues said.

Vincent Kahiya, editor of the Zimbabwe Independent, and news editor Constantine Chimakure were interrogated much of the day before being taken to police cells at Harare central police station, said a senior colleague who asked not to be named.

'I spoke to them late this afternoon, and they said they were going to spend the night inside,' the colleague said. 'Then their cellphones were switched off.'

The arrest is expected to stoke local and international criticism of the continuing repressive actions by police under President Robert Mugabe, in spite of the establishment three months ago of a coalition government of Mugabe's former ruling party and Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai's opposition Movement for Democratic Change.

The agreement between the two political antagonists obliges security authorities - still under the 85-year-old Mugabe's control - to initiate major human-rights reforms.

Monday's arrests are seen by observers as confirming fears that the old regime is determined not to cede any influence, and to reinforce the refusal of Western nations to provide desperately needed finance for the bankrupt Harare government while Mugabe still calls the shots.

It came on the day that the MDC had set as a deadline for a series of its long outstanding demands for reforms to be met, which include media freedom and the release of political prisoners, as well as the revocation of numerous unilateral appointments by Mugabe loyalists of his party to top positions in the new power-sharing administration.

The MDC is due to discuss the violations at a meeting on Sunday of its top decision-making body.

Officer's from Mugabe's notorious law and order police section raided the newspaper on Saturday when the two newsmen were off duty for the weekend, but the pair reported with their lawyer to Harare central police station at 9 am Monday, their colleague said.

On Friday, the Zimbabwe Independent published a report that named police and national intelligence agency officers who were involved in the abduction of about 30 activists who, according to court records, were tortured to force them to admit to plotting to overthrow Mugabe.

'They are being charged with publishing false statements with the intention of lowering public confidence in the law enforcement agencies,' said their lawyer, Innocent Chagonda.

Human-rights lawyers say that Zimbabwe's police have been responsible for widespread torture and murder of government critics for the last 10 years and constantly violate court orders, to maintain the power of Mugabe and the clique of generals loyal to him. Lawyers say the most dangerous place for any citizen to be in is a police station.

In recent weeks police have arrested magistrates, a judge's clerk and the registrar of Harare's high court for carrying out orders that overturned police violations of the rule of law.

'It shows that the government of national unity (formed in February) means nothing to these guys,' said Zimbabwe Independent chief executive Raphael Khumalo. 'They are a law unto themselves. It is like living in a police state.'

At the weekend, the government hosted a conference for all media companies and journalists to deliberate on recommendations for media freedom.

Zimbabwe is classified by the New York-based International Committee to Protect Journalists as among the 10 governments that are most severe offenders against freedom of information.