Zimbabwean police this evening filed fresh charges against four local independent journalists whom a court ordered freed yesterday on grounds their arrests were illegal.
The charges relate to the publication of a subversive statement, their lawyer Mr Lawrence Chibwe said.
"The four were ordered today to report to police headquarters where they were questioned for about 90 minutes before being charged and released," he said.
Mr Chibwe had earlier served the police with a High Court order barring the arrest of any journalists from the independent Daily News.
The paper's editor-in-chief and three other journalists were arrested on yesterday over a story implicating police in recent looting at white owned farms.
They were freed later in the day following the provisional granting by a high court of an order for their release on grounds that the arrest was illegal because the law under which they were being charged was invalid.
Editor-in-chief Mr Geoff Nyarota, assistant editor Mr Bill Saidi, news editor Mr John Gambanga and reporter Mr Sam Munyavi had been charged under the Law and Order Maintenance Act for allegedly publishing false news likely to cause alarm and despondency.
Mr Chibwe said today fresh charges had now been filed under a different section of the act. He said the journalists were now waiting for police to summon them over the statements they made today.
The charges are linked to the paper's coverage of the widespread looting of scores of white-owned farms in northwestern Zimbabwe by black farm occupiers in recent days.
A story the paper carried Tuesday implied that police vehicles were used in the looting, allegations police have denied and described as "malicious".
On Tuesday, two other journalists from the same newspaper were briefly arrested for breaching the law following a story which said part of a crowd attending walked out from a weekend rally addressed by Vice President Mr Joseph Msika. They were freed hours later.
An international media watchdog, Reporters Sans Frontiers (RSF) has protested against the arrest of the journalists.
"Once again, the authorities blame the independent press and try by any means to silence critical voices," said Mr Robert Mernard, RSF secretary general in a statement received here.
Information Minister Mr Jonathan Moyo described the newspaper as a "press that is run by people who have lost their minds, people who believe they are above the law, who believe that they can do anything, whatsoever, as they wish and that they should not be touched."
AFP