Al-Jazeera news crew held in Zimbabwe

HARARE - An Al-Jazeera news crew which reports from Zimbabwe was on 20 October 2009 detained in a cell at Munhumutapa Building which houses the Offices of the President and Cabinet in the capital Harare.

The crew comprising reporter Haru Mutasa and cameraperson Austin Gundani were questioned by security officials on why they were filming events outside Munhumutapa Building.

The two journalists were detained in a cell and interrogated for about three hours. They were reportedly then transferred to Harare Central Police station from where they were released without charges.

The crew was outside the building to cover events as they unfolded in the wake  of the Movement for Democratic Change’s (MDC-T) led by Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai decision not to attend Cabinet meetings which are normally held on Tuesdays.

The Cabinet meeting was duly convened on the day in question despite the absence of Ministers from MDC-T.

MISA-Zimbabwe could not immediately get comment from the news crews but has since independently confirmed the incident in question.

Reporters Without Borders said on Thursday the crew were assaulted and briefly detained in while covering the cabinet meeting.

"Gundani had been filming the arrival of Zimbabwean ministers at the offices of President Mugabe when he was brutally arrested,"  RWB said in a statement.

"The two journalists were then locked up in a cell and interrogated."

Thembisa Fakude, al-Jazeera executive director in Johannesburg confirmed the detentions to AFP and said it was not the first time that their reporters had been arrested in Zimbabwe.

"They were detained for a while and later released. But this was the first arrest since the formation of the unity government," said Fakude.

In past years Zimbabwe imposed relax harsh media laws that saw local newspapers shut down and journalists and editors jailed.

The new government has promised to relax the laws and invite the international media back.