Deported reporter due in London

A newspaper correspondent accused of being critical of the Zimbabwe government was due to arrive in the UK this morning after being deported.

The Guardian newspaper’s Andrew Meldrum, a US citizen who has lived in the southern africa country for 23 years, was put on a plane in Harare last night.

It was due to arrive at London Gatwick airport at 6.40am.

Earlier yesterday, Meldrum was forced into a government car by a group of uniformed and paramilitary police and taken to Harare Airport by immigration officials.

They issued him with an order stating that he was a “prohibited immigrant”. It was expected that he would be put on the next flight out of Harare.

“This is not the action of a legitimate government. It is afraid of a free press. It is afraid of independent and critical reporting,” Meldrum shouted before being forced into the government car.

It was thought that his expulsion had been halted after a last-minute dash to the airport by his lawyer Beatrice Mtetwa.

She had obtained an order from Zimbabwe’s high court Judge Charles Hungwe staying the deportation and requiring immigration officials to produce him before his court yesterday afternoon.

When he did not appear before Judge Hungwe by a 3.30pm deadline, there were fears that he had gone missing.

It later emerged that he had been put on a Air Zimbabwe flight out of the country.

Meldrum has suffered repeated harassment from officials who accuse him of unwarranted criticism of the regime of President Robert Mugabe.

He is currently awaiting the result of his appeal against an earlier deportation order issued last July.

The new deportation order signed by home affairs minister Kembo Mahadi said it was not in the public interest for him to disclose why Meldrum was deemed “an undesirable inhabitant” of Zimbabwe.

British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw said: “I am very concerned about this case. Petty and vindictive actions like this simply expose the Zimbabwean regime for what it is.”

Guardian editor Alan Rusbridger called the deportation “a political act which should invite the strongest possible condemnation from the international community”.

He added: “The Zimbabwean authorities have been persecuting Andrew for the last 12 months and their clear determination to deport him can only be interpreted as a concerted effort to stifle any free press within the country.”