Africa News Summary : News Headlines : Discussion Forums

HARARE - Zimbabwean police have released three journalists who were arrested for taking part in a demonstration to protest proposed new press restrictions, the Daily News reported Thursday.

The three, who were detained on Wednesday, were freed after five hours in police custody, said the newspaper, which is close to Zimbabwe's opposition and the only private daily in the country. Foster Dongozi and Rhoda Mashavave of the Daily News, and Cornelius Nduna of the weekly Standard, were charged under a two-week-old security law with holding an illegal gathering likely to breach the peace.

They were arrested when police broke up a demonstration by about 40 independent and foreign journalists outside parliament called to protest a press bill that President Robert Mugabe hopes to pass before crucial elections in March.

The security law and the press bill are among a raft of measures that have brought Mugabe international condemnation and led to threats of sanctions from the European Union, Britain and the United States, as well as the spectre of suspension from the Commonwealth. Nampa-Sapa-AFP

•  Big Brother Africa 3: Hustle And Flow
•  Time Flies While Watching Strangers Shower