Zimbabwe critic's passport seized

Mr Ncube was told he was on a list of 64 government critics

The Zimbabwean government has seized the passport of a prominent critic, newspaper publisher Trevor Ncube.

The action was apparently under a new law which allows the government of Robert Mugabe to block the travel of its critics.

Mr Ncube owns Zimbabwe's largest private newspaper group.

He told Reuters his passport was seized by a man claiming to be from Zimbabwe's Central Intelligence Organisation when he landed at Bulawayo airport.

Mr Ncube was not arrested, but the seizure means he is unable to leave the country.

He said he was later told his passport had been taken because he was on a list of 64 government critics.

Mr Ncube is based in South Africa and owns the Standard and the Zimbabwe Independent newspaper, which have both heavily criticised Mr Mugabe in the past. He also owns South Africa's Mail & Guardian newspaper.

Mr Mugabe's ruling Zanu-PF party pushed through a range of constitutional changes in August, among them a new provision to ban its critics from international travel.