Journalists Arrested During Poll Freed in Zimbabwe

Zimbabwe has released without charge three freelance journalists arrested while covering last week’s controversial presidential election run-off between incumbent President Robert Mugabe and his opposition rival Morgan Tsvangirai of the Movement for Democratic Change.

Journalists Richard Judson, Regis Marisamhuka and Agrisson Manyenge were arrested on suspicion of working without registration from the authorities as required under Zimbabwe’s tough media laws.

To cover the Zimbabwean polls, all journalists had to be accredited by the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission upon recommendation from the Media and Information Commission, an official media watchdog.

As well as organizing the election, the ZEC was in charge of screening and monitoring the press during the elections which were won by Mugabe.

The three journalists were released after realizing that they had in fact been registered by ZEC and the MIC.

Source African Press Agency

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