Two British journalists arrested at a polling station during Zimbabwe's parliamentary elections on March 31 were acquitted Thursday on charges of violating Zimbabwe's notorious press-gag laws. Magistrate Never Diza said in a court in Norton, 50 kilometres west of Harare, that authorities "failed to produce credible evidence against Toby Harnden, 37, chief foreign correspondent for The Sunday Telegraph and and Julian Simmonds, 46, a photographer for the conservative London weekly. On Wednesday night, he ordered authorities to release them on bail from Harare's remand prison, but the order was ignored until just before noon Thursday, two hours before they were due in court. They were handed over to a senior consular official with the British embassy in Harare. They are due to return to court on Friday for the magistrate's verdict on charges of violating immigration laws by staying in the country after their visas had expired. They pleaded not guilty to the charge and to violating the draconian "Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act by "illegally practising journalism" without a licence from the state media commission. --More 2352 Local Time 2052 GMT
