Police occupied the offices of Zimbabwe's only independent daily newspaper on Saturday, halting operations and detaining staff one day after a court order blocked government efforts to shut it down.
Officials at the Daily News said armed police swooped on the newspaper offices in central Harare and detained 18 journalists and administrators just hours after the paper put out its first edition since being closed by government order six weeks ago.
The employees were released after about four hours, but were required to sign statements saying they worked for the newspaper's publisher, a possible preliminary step toward prosecution for working illegally.
They also received a verbal warning not to return to work, newspaper staff said.
"Police have physically occupied our offices and are stopping us from working. They are trying to achieve by force what they could not achieve through the courts. They've ordered our staff out without a legal warrant or a court order," said Gugulethu Moyo, a lawyer representing Daily News publisher Associated Newspapers of Zimbabwe (ANZ).
"This is an act of vengeance by a government that preaches the rule of law but lives by the rule of the jungle. We are being persecuted but we are determined to fight on," Moyo said.
A Western news agency reporter saw several armed policemen standing outside the newspaper's Harare office on Saturday.
The raid occurred one day after the Harare Administrative Court dealt President Robert Mugabe's government a defeat by ordering that the Daily News -- a persistent government critic -- be granted a new publishing license.
The license had not yet been issued, but newspaper executives said they believed the court order was sufficient grounds to resume publication immediately.
The newspaper, closed after a court found it did not have the license required by Zimbabwe's strict new media laws, quickly went to work and rushed out an eight-page edition on Saturday headlined "We Are Back."
Senior Assistant Police Commissioner Wayne Bvudzijena told state TV police were enforcing the will of the court.
"The police have taken action against the ANZ because the Daily News cannot publish without a license and must comply the court's ruling."
But Zimbabwe state radio quoted unnamed lawyers suggesting the Daily News' publication on Saturday was against the law and in contempt of court.
Friday's court ruling held that the state media commission erred when it rejected a license application by the Daily News, which has stepped up criticism of Mugabe's government as Zimbabwe slides into a worsening political and economic crisis.
The court ordered that a new commission be appointed and a license granted to the Daily News by Nov. 30. Media commission officials, who argued that the paper's application came too late, said they would appeal against the ruling.
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