U.S. journalist expelled from Zimbabwe

LONDON -- An American journalist expelled from Zimbabwe arrived in Britain and said authorities in the southern African nation threw him out because they were desperate to stifle free expression.

Andrew Meldrum, a longtime correspondent for The Guardian newspaper, said Zimbabwean officials put a jacket over his head, drove him to the airport and forced him onto a London-bound plane Friday, despite a judge's order to let him stay.

"I would like to point out that to say 'deportation' suggests this is a legal process," the reporter said Saturday after landing at London's Gatwick airport. "In fact it was not legal. It was an abduction really."

He said authorities held him captive for 10 hours Friday, seizing his mobile phone and preventing him from contacting his wife or lawyer.

"When they bundled me into the car, they put a jacket over my head so I did not know where they were taking me," he said. "They just bundled me on to the plane."

Meldrum had been served with a deportation order Friday at Zimbabwe's immigration department headquarters in the capital Harare.

Meldrum's Harare lawyer Beatrice Mtetwa said Saturday she will continue with court proceedings to have immigration officials face contempt of court charges for ignoring High Court Judge Charles Hungwe. Hungwe had ordered immigration officials to bring Meldrum to a hearing and said he must remain free until another hearing on his case.

The Zimbabwe Bar Association, an independent lawyers' group, said it will protest the deportation.

"We find this totally unacceptable. It confirms all our fears that law and order has broken down in this country," said Adrian de Bourbon, head to the association.

In New York, the Committee to Protect Journalists said it was "appalled and dismayed" by Meldrum's deportation.

It illustrated "the utter disregard that the government of Zimbabwe has shown for press freedom and the rule of law," said CPJ executive director Ann Cooper.

Meldrum, who has lived in Zimbabwe for 23 years, has been accused of being critical of the government. The 51-year-old journalist said he would continue to write about Zimbabwe and neighboring countries.

"I think the government is getting increasingly desperate. It's a classic case of shooting the messenger, or in this case, deporting the messenger," he said. "It's also meant to be intimidating to the rest of the press and Zimbabwe."

Meldrum, the fourth foreign journalist to be expelled from Zimbabwe in the past two years, was acquitted last year on charges he published false information about Zimbabwe, violating stringent new media laws.

President Robert Mugabe's increasingly authoritarian government has cracked down on the independent press, the judiciary and opposition officials during more than three years of political and economic chaos.

Guardian editor Alan Rusbridger said Friday he was "appalled" the authorities ignored the court orders.

"Not only do today's events sound the death knell for press freedom in Zimbabwe, they also show the Mugabe government's utter contempt for justice," he said.