Journalists Arrested While Covering Mugabe At Zimbabwe Polling Station

Two freelance journalists were briefly detained on Friday while covering the arrival of President Robert Mugabe at a polling station where he cast his ballot in Zimbabwe’s presidential election run-off.

Reporter Frank Chikowore and a cameraman Edgar Mandiyambira were arrested by police at Mhofu Primary School in the Harare neighborhood of Highfield where Mugabe and his wife cast their votes in the disputed election on Friday.

They were later released after questioning.

The Paris-based Reporters Without Borders said the journalists were the victims of a climate of “constant oppression being imposed by the government and security forces”.

“We appeal to the Zimbabwean courts not to be accomplices to these abuses, and to protect the few independent journalists still working in Zimbabwe,” the media rights body said.

This was the second time this year that Chikowore has been arrested for practicing journalism in a country ranked among the most dangerous places in the world for journalists.

He was arrested in April while covering an opposition protest to push for the urgent release of presidential election results which were delayed by five weeks.

Source African Press Agency

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