Zim war vets 'strangled by grief'

War veterans once loyal to Zimbabwe strongman Robert Mugabe have been "strangled by grief", a top MDC official said on Monday, as crowds turned out in a Harare court to support a war veterans' leader imprisoned for insulting the 92-year-old president.

Zimbabwe National Liberation War Veterans Association spokesperson Douglas Mahiya was granted bail by a magistrate in Harare, but his colleague Victor Matemadanda, who'd come to show solidarity with his colleague, was arrested at the courtroom.

The pair (and other veterans of the 1970s war for independence in Zimbabwe) are being pursued by the authorities because of their links to a statement from the former freedom fighters that was highly critical of Mugabe.