A former intelligence officer at the Libyan embassy in Harare, Yousef Murgham, has been deported, the state controlled daily The Herald reported on Friday.
Murgham is alleged to have been ”engaging in activities that posed a threat to the security and national interests of Zimbabwe,” according to the newspaper.
The action comes as President Robert Mugabe is desperately seeking Libyan support for his economy, including reported oil-for-farms deals.
The newspaper suggested the authorities may have tried to silence him before he could give information about controversial business deals to independent media.
Legal sources say expulsion of the diplomat-turned-businessman on Thursday was legally dubious as he is married to a Zimbabwean and entitled to permanent residence.
Independent sources said there were unruly scenes at Harare’s international airport as Murgham (43) was dragged aboard a flight to Nairobi, accompanied by agents who were to hand him over to Colonel Muammer Gaddafi’s security police in Tripoli.
Officers of the Zimbabwean Central Intelligence organisation prevented his wife Jean from serving officials with a High Court injunction delaying deportation until after a hearing.
”My husband was a staunch Zanu (PF) supporter and ally,” she told The Daily News. ”It was sad that the man who negotiated the current fuel deal for the government of Zimbabwe with the Libyan authorities left the country without a cent.”
Murgham leaves behind his wife, and children Samia (12) and Mohammed (8).
”We are ready to take the matter to the International Court of Justice at the Hague, if my husband disappears,” she said.
The Herald said Murgham’s deportation was ”carried out with the full knowledge and co-operation of the Libyan Government” after he ”used the cover of contacts he made within the ruling Zanu(PF) party and government while a diplomat” between 1986-1992.
”The former diplomat was also working very closely with British intelligence and the opposition MDC whose leadership he once met with,” the newspaper claimed.
”He had become an undesirable element by engaging in activities threatening the interests of the country.
”He had also developed links with certain private newspapers in the country and has tried to blackmail the authorities by claiming he had given damaging information on the government to one local newspaper, which planned to run a series of stories using the information.”
President Mugabe’s ruling party is known to be riven by rival factions. Many members of his elite own multi-million dollar businesses that vie for lucrative deals, including the import of famine relief and fuel.
Murgham’s lawyer, Jonathan Samkange, said he would go ahead with plans to have the High Court declare the deportation unlawful. He had a residence permit valid until 2004. – Sapa-DPA