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Zimbabwe arrests four foreign journalists

Members of the media wait for a press conference with Zimbabwean opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai in a Harare hotel on Tuesday. PHOTO: AFP

Zimbabwean authorities have charged two foreign journalists arrested in Harare with breaching the country’s tough media laws by reporting without accreditation, police said yesterday.

New York Times correspondent Barry Bearak, 58, and a 45-year-old journalist from Britain were among four people picked up on Thursday by police at a Harare guest house.

“They have both been charged for practicing without accreditation but the other two will be released soon after screening,” national police spokesman Wayne Bvudzijena said.

“We have so many other foreign journalists who have followed the laid-down procedures and are practicing legally and here we have two people who thought they were a law unto themselves,” Bvudzijena said.

There was no information on the identity of the other two journalists detained.

Zimbabwean authorities barred most foreign media from covering last month’s general elections and had warned they would deal severely with journalists who sneaked into the country and were caught operating illegally.

However a number of news organizations, including the BBC, have been filing reports from correspondents operating under cover.

Zimbabwe passed a media law on the eve of the last presidential elections in 2002 that has been invoked to expel foreign correspondents and shut down at least four independent newspapers.

The situation is tense in the capital as Zimbaweans await results from the presidential elections in which Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe faced the toughest challenge to his nearly three-decade rule.

The opposition Movement for Democratic Change claims its leader Morgan Tsvangirai won the presidential poll outright.

There was still no official word on the outcome six days after the polls, although the election commission has won control of parliament.

Mugabe’s ruling Zimbabwe African National Union — Patriotic Front has indicated it is gearing for a second round run-off and called a meeting of its politburo yesterday to discuss the election outcome.

New York Times executive editor Bill Keller confirmed on Thursday that Bearak, who won a Pulitzer prize in 2002 for his reporting war-torn Afghanistan, had been detained but did not know where he was being held.

“We are making every effort to ascertain his status, to assure that he is safe and being well treated, and to secure his prompt release,” Keller said in a statement.

The US said it was “troubled” by news of the arrests.

“We are troubled by reports we are hearing on the ground in Zimbabwe,” National Security Council spokesman Gordon Johndroe said. “Journalists and NGOs should be permitted to do their work.”
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