Two journalists, arrested while covering an anti-government demonstration in Harare, were denied access to their lawyers by the Zimbabwean authorities.
The journalists -- Blessing Zulu of the Zimbabwe Independent and freelancer Newton Spicer -- were arrested on October 22 2003, while covering a demonstration staged by the National Constitutional Assembly (NCA).
Heavily armed riot police thwarted the demonstration and the journalists were detained at Harare Central Police Station together with 300 other demonstrators.
Lawyers representing the detained journalists have been denied access to their clients in the police cells and have also been threatened with incarceration.
It was also alleged that photographer Simon Sithole and trainee journalist Takunda Mawodza, both from the state controlled Herald newspaper, were briefly detained for covering the demonstration.
The arrested demonstrators included NCA leaders who were lobbying and advocating for a new democratic people's constitution. The NCA was, among others, demonstrating against the collapse of the economy and the failure by the government to deal with the severe economic decline and the resultant hardship caused by bad governance.
Police quelled a similar protest last month by the NCA, a coalition of political parties and student, church and rights groups which has staged a series of demonstrations in the last four years against a constitution it says President Robert Mugabe has manipulated to tighten his 23-year grip on power.

Source: Media Institute of Southern Africa (Windhoek)