Zimbabwe: 40,000 farm workers displaced

Davison Maruziva, editor of the Standard newspaper, was taken by police from the newspaper's office Thursday, the publisher said.

New York-based Human Rights Watch said prominent human rights lawyer Harrison Nkomo was also arrested in central Harare on Wednesday. Police could not be reached for comment.

Maruziva was accused of publishing "false statements prejudicial to the state," said Iden Wetherell, group editor of the Standard, which is published Sundays, and its sister paper, the Zimbabwe Independent business and political weekly.

Nkomo faces charges of "insulting or undermining the authority of the head of state," Human Rights Watch said.

Maruziva, a veteran Zimbabwean journalist who is in his 50s, was also accused of contempt of court for publishing an article by opposition leader Arthur Mutamabara in the Standard on April 20.

Mutamabara wrote of irregularities in the conduct of the courts, judicial officials and President Robert Mugabe's ZANU-PF party in the March 29 election. He also accused Mugabe of betraying the nation's independence and coercing voters through violence and vote rigging, leaving the opposition "bludgeoned and brutalized."

"This latest arrest represents a most serious attack on press and political freedom in Zimbabwe," Wetherell said in a statement.

Georgette Gagnon, Africa director at Human Rights Watch, said the arrest of Nkomo "may signal the government's escalation of its crackdown on perceived opponents."

Nkomo is the first lawyer arrested for alleged opposition activities in a crackdown that began after the March 29 elections, although others have been harassed.