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Opposition leader undergoes brain scan

Zimbabwe's opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai was in intensive care after undergoing a brain scan yesterday for a suspected fractured skull, sustained while in police custody.

"He has gone for a brain scan and we are now waiting for the results," said the Movement for Democratic Change leader's spokesman, William Bango.

News of the brain scan came after prosecutors failed to show at a court in Harare where they had been due to charge the MDC leader and around 50 fellow activists over their attempts to stage a banned protest on Sunday.

When the prosecutors did not turn up at 9am, the activists who had attended the court took to their heels and headed home.

It was initially thought that Tsvangirai was at the court but it later emerged that he had yet to be discharged from hospital.

Tsvangirai and his supporters had been released into their lawyers' custody overnight while many were still receiving treatment in hospital, a move which effectively makes them the responsibility of their legal team.

It was not immediately clear if or when they would now face charges over Sunday's planned protest at a Harare township which was crushed by riot police.

They were first brought to court on Tuesday after 48 hours in custody, many suffering the effects of their treatment at the hands of the security services. They were then given permission to be treated in hospital.

Tsvangirai was nursing a badly swollen right eye and had head wounds while Lovemore Madhuku, head of the National Constitutional Assembly, had his head and one of his hands swathed in bandages.

The Zimbabwe government has been criticized over its bloody crackdown, with even South Africa issuing a rare public rebuke over the treatment of Tsvangirai.
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