News reporter held in Zimbabwe jail is released on bail

A reporter from the New York Times was jailed in Zimbabwe without government permission and was later released on bail on Monday.

Barry Bearak was covering elections in Zimbabwe and he was swept up during a raid on a hotel that is frequently visited by foreign journalists. Bearak was arrested on Thursday and so was an American democracy advocate. On Monday Bearak and a British citizen was granted bail. They were being held because they were accused of violating the country's strict journalism laws. Bearak should consider himself lucky because three judges have refused to hear his case but it seems that he will have a court date for Thursday. Bearak was released to a clinic because when he was locked up he fell about seven feet from a concrete bunk in his cell and fell right onto the concrete floor. Sources say that Zimbabwe uses the accreditation laws to keep foreign journalists from covering the nation. Late last month more than 200 journalist sent requests to cover the elections but very few foreign reporters have received accreditation. Dileepan Sivapathasundaram was the American democracy advocate that was detained and he has not been charged with a crime as of now and even though he was released to American diplomatic custody last week he is still in the country because he is not allowed to leave. He is also forced to report to police each day for many hours at a time. Two other Americans were also detained but they were later released and they left the country, according to the State Department.