Mugabe rival sues over video

Morgan Tsvangirai denies plotting to kill the president

Zimbabwe opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai has started legal action against an Australian television station after it broadcast allegations that he plotted to kill President Robert Mugabe.

Mr Tsvangirai strongly denies the allegations.

It comes as police detained 30 of his supporters in a raid in the capital, Harare.

A spokesman said nine people were hurt in the raid, which broke up a meeting of hundreds of the party's election agents preparing for presidential elections in just over a week's time.

Mr Tsvangirai is being investigated over allegations of treason arising from the film.

But a South African government delegation, visiting Zimbabwe, said it has been told that Mr Tsvangirai has not yet been charged with any offence.

We are a lawful and loyal opposition in Zimbabwe

Tendai Biti

The state-owned media in Zimbabwe seized on the footage and broadcast it repeatedly.

Mr Tsvangirai poses the greatest challenge to Mr Mugabe's 22-year rule.

"Lawful opposition"

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A spokesman for Mr Tsvangirai, Tendai Biti, said the allegations in the film were false, and that the SBS television station had been "duped" by Mr Mugabe's supporters.

An ex-Israeli intelligence agent was involved in making the recordings

He said the Movement for Democratic Change was pursuing legal action "to vindicate our name and to vindicate the truth".

"We are a lawful and loyal opposition in Zimbabwe, and there is absolutely no way that ourselves as a party or our leadership would ever contemplate... these sort of heinous allegations that have been made in those tapes," the spokesman said.

Two weeks ago, SBS broadcast video footage of a secretly filmed meeting which allegedly shows Mr Tsvangirai discussing "eliminating" Mr Mugabe.

It said it would stand by its story and defend the defamation action filed in the New South Wales state Supreme Court on Thursday.

Intimidation and violence

The allegations and subsequent police action were condemned by the United States, Britain and human rights groups as a ploy to influence 9-10 March election and cement Mr Mugabe's rule.

Robert Mugabe, who is 78, has been in power since 1980

Mr Tsvangirai was reported to have been charged with treason, which carries the death penalty, on Monday. However he was released from police custody.

He was also reportedly detained briefly in Harare on Wednesday after a meeting with party officials.

The same day Zimbabwe's Supreme Court declared illegal a controversial law which disenfranchised hundreds of thousands of Zimbabweans living abroad.

Mr Mugabe has been accused of using intimidation and violence to secure his re-election.

However, speaking ahead of this weekend's Commonwealth meeting Nigerian President Olusegun Obansanjo said the organisation should only impose sanctions on Zimbabwe if it is proved that President Mugabe has broken its rules.