Zim police arrest lawyer, MDC officials
2013-03-17 16:29
Special Report
Zimbabwe's prime minister says he is ready to win the presidency in upcoming elections and return the nation to the world community after years of isolation.
Harare - Zimbabwe police arrested the country's most
prominent rights lawyer and four senior officials of the prime minister's party
on Sunday and held them at the capital's main police station, an independent
lawyers group said.
Rights lawyer Beatrice Mtetwa is being accused of
"obstructing or defeating the course of justice," Zimbabwe Lawyers
for Human Rights said.
The charge comes after she went to assist Prime Minister
Morgan Tsvangirai's chief legal adviser, Thabani Mpofu, during a police raid at
his Harare home early on Sunday, the group said.
Police also raided and searched a suburban office of
Tsvangirai's media and communications department.
Three other members of Tsvangirai's personal staff were
also arrested on Sunday morning, the lawyers group said.
They were identified as Warship Dumba, Felix Manditse and
Annah Muzvidziwa, all close aides of Tsvangirai.
Voting in a referendum on a new constitution ended late on
Saturday.
All main party leaders called for a "Yes" vote on
constitutional reforms.
Another official of the former opposition party, the
Movement for Democratic Change, was arrested before polling began.
No reasons were given for the arrest by four armed police
of Sampson Magunise, a party organiser in eastern Zimbabwe.
Police enforced a clampdown on rights and pro-democracy
groups in the run-up to the referendum vote.
The lawyers' group said no further information on the new
arrests was immediately available, but witnesses said Mtetwa demanded that
police produce a search warrant at Mpofu's home and she was forced into a
police vehicle in handcuffs.
- SAPA
