Harare

The main witness in the treason trial of Zimbabwe’s opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai, who faces a hanging sentence for allegedly plotting to kill the president, said on Wednesday the politician was mad.

Twenty-six fans were arrested for carrying banners and political messages during the World Cup match between Zimbabwe and Pakistan, lawyers and police said on Wednesday.

Police arrested another 24 people at the World Cup cricket match being played in the western city of Bulawayo on Tuesday for allegedly violating security laws that outlaw public protest against President Robert Mugabe’s government, lawyers said.

At least 41 cricket supporters were preparing on Monday to spend their fourth night in jail in the western city of Bulawayo following Zimbabwe’s World Cup match against Holland.

Twenty-six opposition supporters were arrested on Sunday as they drove past President Robert Mugabe’s residence in the capital, police and opposition party officials said on Monday.

Police in the Zimbabwean capital Harare on Saturday arrested more than 50 members of the main opposition party who were canvassing ahead of a by-election, the opposition said. But police have denied the claim.

A Zimbabwean court has issued an arrest warrant for Zimbabwean independent journalist Geoffrey Nyarota for failing to appear in court on charges of abusing journalistic privileges, his lawyer said on Friday.

Zimbabwe’s Supreme Court ruled on Thursday that a respected pro-democracy figure and critic of President Robert Mugabe’s rule had no right to a passport from the country of her birth because her father was a citizen of New Zealand.

The state’s key witness in the trial of Zimbabwe’s opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai for an alleged assassination plot admitted Thursday to having tricked the accused in order to tape incriminating evidence.

The main state witness in the high treason trial of Zimbabwe’s opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai on Tuesday accused the defence lawyer of being racist and anti-feminist.

An audio tape intended as evidence that could help incriminate opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai in an alleged plot to kill President Robert Mugabe was mostly inaudible, a Harare court was told on Tuesday.

Police arrested a High Court judge seen as having angered the government by ruling against it, accusing him of corruption, state television reported on Monday.

Zimbabwe’s President Robert Mugabe is expected next week to score a diplomatic victory against many Western nations when he visits France, two days after the renewal of European Union sanctions against him.

Police in Zimbabwe Friday picked up around 40 women handing out flowers in the capital to protest against violence, an AFP reporter saw.

The high treason trial of Zimbabwe’s main opposition leader was to go into closed session on Wednesday to enable the court to question the key state witness over details of a deal he signed with the government.

The Zimbabwe state-owned airline, Air Zimbabwe, is rated among the world’s worst and is faced with ”total collapse,” according to the head of a special parliamentary committee.

Defence lawyers in the treason trial of Zimbabwe opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai on Monday accused the government of breaching the constitution by not releasing details of a deal it made with the main state witness.

Three leading lawmakers from Zimbabwe’s main opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) were arrested on Saturday, the party said.

The main state witness in the treason trial of opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai had a record of ”meddling” in foreign politics going back to the US presidential vote in 1980, defence attorney George Bizos said on Friday.

South African defence lawyer George Bizos on Thursday put the credibility of the star witness to the test in the high treason trial of Zimbabwe opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai. Bizos accused him of being a ”fraudster” and of spinning ”untruths”.

A key witness in the treason trial of Zimbabwe opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai on Wednesday hinted that the US government was involved in an alleged plot to assassinate President Robert Mugabe.

Zimbabwean banks ran out of cash and supermarket shelves were emptied as panic that a new showdown between the government, the opposition and trade unions was looming gripped the Southern African country.

A controversial Canada-based political consultant testified on Tuesday in the treason trial of opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai that he was asked to help arrange a coup and the killing of President Robert Mugabe.

Zimbabwe’s opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai went on trial for high treason on Monday after a delay as baton-wielding riot police denied independent journalists and diplomats entry to the courtroom.

Zimbabwe’s main opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai goes on trial on Monday charged with plotting the assassination of President Robert Mugabe, in an affair Tsvangirai and his supporters claim was a set-up.

Five foreigners suspected of being undercover journalists reporting on Zimbabwe’s hunger crisis have been picked up for questioning by police, representative Wayne Bvudzijena said on Sunday.

A top UN official said on Saturday that one million Zimbabweans are likely to die from Aids between now and 2010, as the virus continues to take its toll on the famine-hit southern African country.

A huge and brutal crack down is underway in Zimbabwe, aimed at crushing any form of opposition to the regime of President Robert Mugabe. The reason is simple: Zimbabwe is to host six matches of the Cricket World Cup. The event will provide a perfect opportunity for Mugabe to present a sanitised view of Zimbabwean life to the world.