14 Feb 2009

Opposition official charged with treason - MDC

10:41 am on 14 February 2009

Police in Zimbabwe have charged a senior official of the opposition with treason.

The MDC says the charge is politically motivated. The arrest of Roy Bennett was made after a unity cabinet was sworn in.

Mr Bennett was nominated by Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai as deputy minister of agriculture.

He had been living in exile in South Africa after fleeing the country about two years ago because police wanted to question him in connection with the discovery of an arms in eastern Zimbabwe.

The BBC reports he was arrested near an airport in Harare earlier in the day.

A white farmer who lost his property under President Robert Mugabe's land reform programme, he was previously in prison from October 2004 - June 2005.