Journalists, lawyer arrested in Zimbabwe

(CNN) -- Two journalists and the lawyer for a third have been arrested in Zimbabwe in recent days, their spokesmen said Thursday, amid signs that the Zimbabwean government is intensifying a post-election crackdown.

Word of the arrests comes a day after the main opposition party, the Movement for Democratic Change, said that 25 of its supporters have been killed since the disputed March 29 presidential election and church groups reported the deaths of eight people at the hands of militias.

A government spokesman said those arrested Thursday had no respect for the country's laws.

Davison Maruziva, the editor of the Zimbabwe newspaper The Standard, was arrested for publishing a commentary piece by an opposition leader, according to the newspaper's project editor, Iden Wetherell.

Maruziva was accused of publishing false statements prejudicial to the state, Wetherell said. The accusation relates to a critical commentary piece by Arthur Mutambara, the leader of an opposition party faction, which the paper published April 20, he added.

A Zimbabwean photographer for Reuters has been held for three days without charge, the news agency said Thursday. Police accused Howard Burditt of using a satellite phone to transmit pictures, Reuters said. Burditt has accreditation to work in the country, the agency said.

"Reuters has long had a legitimate and fully accredited bureau in Harare and has always complied with Zimbabwean regulations with the aim of accurately reporting the news," Reuters said in a statement. "David Schlesinger, Reuters editor-in-chief, called upon the Zimbabwean authorities to release Burditt immediately."

On Wednesday, police arrested Harrison Nkomo, a lawyer who represented New York Times journalist Barry Bearak when Bearak was briefly detained last month, the rights group Human Rights Watch said. Bearak, a Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter based in Johannesburg, South Africa, spent four nights in jail in Zimbabwe on charges of "committing journalism" while covering the election.

New York-based Human Rights Watch condemned the government of President Robert Mugabe for cracking down on opposing voices and called for Nkomo's immediate release.

Asked about the arrests, Zimbabwean Deputy Minister of Information Bright Matonga said journalists and lawyers were taking advantage of the situation in the country, knowing that their arrests would attract international attention.

Zimbabwe's laws were very clear, Matonga said, and those arrested had no respect for them.

Also Wednesday, Wellington Chibebe, secretary-general of the Zimbabwe Council of Trade Unions, and the group's president, Lovemore Matombo, were summoned by police and are now being held on charges of "communicating falsehood" and inciting public violence.

According to lawyer Alec Muchadehama, police raided Chibebe's house Tuesday night and, finding him gone, left instructions that he should report to police the next day. He and Matombo are being held at Harare's Central Police Station, according to the Crisis in Zimbabwe Coalition.

Opposition groups and others have reported numerous arrests since the presidential election.

Human Rights Watch said Thursday that more than 100 electoral officers had been arrested since the election.

Mugabe's Zanu-PF party has accused election officers of accepting bribes from the Movement for Democratic Change, which wrested the majority in parliament from Zanu-PF in the March 29 vote.

Zimbabwe's electoral commission announced last week that opposition candidate Morgan Tsvangirai won more votes than Mugabe in the race for president, but not enough to avoid a runoff. Voters are still waiting to learn when that runoff will be held.

The head of the electoral commission said Wednesday that a runoff was unlikely within the 21 days stipulated by law after the announcement of results. Agency Chairman George Chiweshe said his team is deciding when it will be feasible to hold the runoff and how the poll will be financed.

Opposition sources said Wednesday that the agency was still trying to secure funding for the runoff.

The commission delayed the release of the presidential election results for weeks amid charges Mugabe's supporters were working to steal the election.

That official tally was finally announced Friday, showing that Tsvangirai won 47.9 percent of the vote compared with 43.2 percent for Mugabe. The Movement for Democratic Change had said Tsvangirai won 50.3 percent of the vote, which would have avoided a runoff.

CNN's Nkepile Mabuse in Johannesburg, South Africa, contributed to this report.

All About Zimbabwe • Robert Mugabe