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UK businessman held in Zambia
04/03/2007 21:22 - (SA)
Lusaka - Zambian authorities have detained a prominent British farmer and safari operator despite a judge halting his deportation for allegedly posing a threat to national security, his lawyer said on Sunday.
Ross Michelson, 46, was arrested by police at his farm in Lusaka in the early hours of Saturday and is being detained at an unknown location without access to his family or attorneys, his lawyer Wynter Kabimba said.
"They have not given us any details concerning his arrest and detention," said Kabimba, who was present during the arrest.
The Zambian government, which last year accused Michelson of aiding Zambia's main opposition in planning to sabotage the economy, got a court order for his deportation from the country in January.
At the time, home affairs minister Ronnie Sikapwashya said Michelson's presence in Zambia posed a danger to national security and peace.
The government had accused the opposition of plotting to create artificial food shortages in a bid to influence whites against President Levy Mwanawasa, who won re-election in September.
Michelson, who was out of the country when the deportation order was granted, subsequently obtained a high court order halting its execution and allowing him to return to testify in an application challenging his expulsion. "The action by government is contempt of court," Kabimba said on Sunday. "The court stayed the execution of the deportation pending judicial review."
Michelson, a British national resident in Zambia, runs Leopard Ridge Safaris.
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