British journalists appear in court in Zimbabwe

Two Sunday Telegraph journalists detained in Zimbabwe since the beginning of the month have pleaded not guilty to charges of breaking immigration and press laws

Chief foreign correspondent Toby Harnden and photographer Julian Simmonds appeared in court yesterday to deny charges of reporting without accreditation and overstaying their visas, charges that carry a punishment of at least two years in jail.

The two journalists, who were arrested last Friday, sat handcuffed throughout the hearing where the charges were read out.

State prosecutor Albert Masama said the men had come to Zimbabwe to report on the weekend's elections - described by Britain and the EU as seriously flawed - which saw President Robert Mugabe's ZANU-PF sail into power again.

"The accused persons had no right to cover the elections because they had no accreditation and had no right to stay in the country beyond March 28," Mr Masama said.

"They didn't leave the country on the expiry of their visas. They flew to Harare, where they met unknown members of the MDC [the opposition party]."

Speaking on behalf of the two journalists, Beatrice Mtetwa said both men believed they had been granted a two-week visa on entering the country and that no expiry date had been recorded in their passports.

Ms Mtetwa said the two men would deny they had come to Zimbabwe to report on the election , saying their holiday had involved visits to Victoria Falls, Matobo national park and the southern city of Bulawayo.

They "kept a travel diary and took pictures as is normal with tourists", she said.

After magistrate Never Diva set a trial date and granted each bail of 1m Zimbabwe dollars (£86), prosecutors objected and used a section of Zimbabwe criminal law to set aside the order on Monday.

Government officials say more than 200 journalists were accredited to cover the elections, but dozens of others have had their applications rejected.

In November last year an England cricket tour of Zimbabwe was almost called off after the government refused entry to a number of journalists travelling with the team.

The BBC is banned from the country and earlier this year three prominent Zimbabwean journalists who wrote for the international press left after several days of police questioning and threats of prosecution.

Angus Shaw, correspondent for Associated Press, Jan Raath of the Times, and Brian Latham, who wrote news reports for the Bloomberg agency, were interrogated, had their offices searched and were told they would be charged with various offences that carry jail terms.

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