Police arrested the editor of Zimbabwe's only independent daily newspaper today as the government stepped up efforts to shut down the paper, one of its most vocal critics.
Mr Geoffrey Nyarota, editor of the Daily News, was arrested in a raid on his home. Mr Wilfred Mbanga, who helped found the newspaper, was also arrested.
"They wouldn't give any reason or say where they were taking him," Mr Mbanga's wife, Patricia, said.
Lawyers for the men worked to get them released from jail, saying police officers of the serious fraud squad, which arrested them, had no coherent charges to file against them.
The government has long been critical of the newspaper.
In January, the paper's printing presses were bombed the day after the government called it an opposition mouthpiece and threatened to silence it. No arrests have been made over the bombing.
Today's arrests came as violence continues in rural areas that opposition leaders and human rights groups say are part of a ruling party campaign to suppress opposition ahead of the election.
AP