Zimbabwe holds Briton for filming election bribery

A prominent critic of Robert Mugabe and a Briton were expected to appear in court yesterday after being arrested trying to film abuse of Zimbabwean council elections.

Roy Bennett, one of only two white opposition MPs in Zimbabwe, was detained with Stewart Girvin on Sunday as they made a video recording near a polling station where representatives of the ruling Zanu-PF party were allegedly giving maize to hungry voters who pledged their allegiance.

The pair, with Mr Bennett's bodyguard, Mike Magwaza, were accused of breaking electoral laws after being held for two days for an offence that carries a maximum of a £100 fine, their supporters said.

Mr Magwaza was said to have been tortured while he was held at Chimanimani police station. Mr Bennett's wife, Heather, "heard loud screaming from the area where Mr Magwaza was being held", according to the campaign group Save Zimbabwe.

Mr Magwaza briefly escaped from the cell but was caught and dragged back before the screaming started again, Mrs Bennett said.

Mr Girvin, 40, a naturalised British citizen who was born in Zimbabwe, is a diabetic and was denied medication, according to the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC).

Mr Bennett and the other white opposition MP, David Coltart, have been the target of vociferous attacks by the Mugabe regime. Mr Bennett represents Chimanimani and has refused to leave his farm under Zimbabwe's land reforms. On his return from the Earth Summit in Johannesburg, South Africa, President Mugabe said: "The Bennetts and the Coltarts are not part of our society. They belong to Britain and let them go there. If they want to stay here, we will say, 'Stay here, but your place is in jail.'"

Mr Coltart, the shadow justice minister, said he expected the three men to be freed yesterday or today, but said it remained unclear what the men would be charged with because they had been denied access to lawyers. "I have had threats levelled against me by Mr Mugabe for a lot longer than Mr Bennett. There's very little you can do," he said.

The Foreign Office said it was investigating reports of Mr Girvin's arrest but could not confirm any details.

Mr Mugabe's ruling party won the majority of seats in the weekend council elections, sealing its grip on its traditional rural power base.

The opposition said that 700 MDC candidates were barred from registering or intimidated out of running for the polls, in which 1,400 seats were being contested.