The New York Times' Barry Bearak reports on his four-day stint in a Zimbabwe prison on charges of "committing journalism." It began when 21 policemen and detectives raided the lodge where he'd been staying. "The crowded room was hot. Already, I felt jailed. I needed a breath of air, but when I moved toward the door, Detective Jasper Musademba, a well-built man in a jacket and tie, stopped me. He had been the most threatening of the police. 'If you try to go outside...' he said sternly, stopping in midsentence. He made his hand into a gun and pulled the trigger. 'You'll kill me?' I asked. 'Good,' he remarked wryly. 'Then you've seen that movie.'"

"Under the terms of his bail, [Barry] Bearak was released to a clinic; he suffered some injuries to his back as the result of a fall from the concrete bunk in his dark, crowded cell to the floor, seven feet below, Mr. Nkomo said. Mr. Bearak's passport was confiscated, and he was required to put up 300 million Zimbabwe dollars as bail, about $10,000 at official exchange rates but only about $7 at black market rates." [Times]