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THE editor of a Zimbabwean independent weekly newspaper was arrested on Thursday for publishing an opinion piece written by an opposition leader, his colleagues said.

Davison Maruziva, editor of the Sunday paper The Standard, was being held over an article written by Arthur Mutambara (read article), leader of a splinter faction of the main opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC).

"We gather he is being charged under the Criminal Codification Act. This relates to a piece contributed to The Standard by Mutambara and this speaks of publishing false statements prejudicial to the state," the paper's group projects editor Iden Wetherell told AFP.

Maruziva has been charged on two counts under the act, Wetherell added.

In the article, which was published on April 20, Mutambara delivered a withering critique of Robert Mugabe's rule of Zimbabwe, accusing the veteran president of running down the economy and his security forces of abuses.

There was no immediate comment on the arrest from the police. - AFP
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