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Top Zimbabwe opposition figure arrested
Agence-France-Presse
June 01, 2008

http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5j8noG31CygvR7X1l9rsY4zvgoKHA

The leader of a rebel faction of Zimbabwe's MDC party was arrested Sunday over a written attack on Robert Mugabe, becoming the most senior opposition politician to be detained ahead of a run-off election.

Arthur Mutambara, who recently pledged to work with the main Movement for Democratic Change leader Morgan Tsvangirai to help oust President Mugabe later this month, was arrested up at his home in Harare, his party and lawyer said.

"He was arrested for publishing falsehoods and for contempt of court for an opinion article he wrote in April," the lawyer Harrison Nkomo told AFP.

One of his senior allies, former lawmaker Trudy Stevenson, confirmed that Mutambara was picked up at his Harare home by police on Sunday morning and taken to the central police station.

The editor of the country's only independent Sunday paper The Standard was arrested last month over the piece written by Mutambara which accused Mugabe of running down the Zimbabwean economy and his security forces of abuses.

Mutambara fell out with Tsvangirai in 2005 in a dispute over whether to contest elections to the largely ceremonial Senate and commanded the loyalty of nearly half the parliamentary party until joint legislative and presidential elections on March 29.

But his faction fared poorly in the elections and won only 10 seats in the 210-strong chamber while Tsvangirai's camp won 99. The two men subsequently agreed to join forces in parliament, although there has been no formal merger.

Nkomo said he did not expect Mutambara, who lost his seat in the March 29 election, to be brought before a court until Tuesday.

"I am only expecting him in court on Tuesday as no questioning will take place today. The questioning will only start tomorrow," he said.

Three MDC lawmakers have been arrested in Zimbabwe in the last month amid mounting violence in the approach to the run-off between Tsvangirai and Mugabe scheduled for June 27, although two are out on bail.

Nelson Chamisa, chief spokesman for the main MDC faction. said Mutambara's arrest followed a pattern of intimidation by the Mugabe regime and his ZANU-PF party which lost control of parliament in the March 29 poll.

"Why are they arresting Mutambara? People should be able to write whatever they want," he told AFP.

"It's a clear onslaught instigated, coordinated and executed by ZANU-PF to either eliminate, terrorize or intimidate the faces of democracy in Zimbabwe."

According to the MDC, more than 50 of its supporters have been killed in attacks by pro-Mugabe militias in recent weeks while tens of thousands have been displaced in order to prevent them from voting on June 27.

Mugabe in turn has accused the MDC of "terrorizing" his supporters and state media reported on Saturday that two ZANU-PF supporters had been shot dead by suspected MDC followers.

Meanwhile, Chamisa said that plans by Tsvangirai to address two rallies in the resort towns of Hwange and Victoria Falls on Saturday were scuppered when police prevented MDC supporters from entering the stadium venues.

"The police are literally trying to be difficult, but acting on the instructions of ZANU-PF," he said.

Under the terms of an agreement mediated by South African President Thabo Mbeki in the run-up to the polls, the opposition was meant to be free to hold rallies as long as it notified the police beforehand.

But the police have been accused of ignoring the agreement and issued an edict in April banning any political rallies in the capital Harare.

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