Leading journalist expelled from Zimbabwe

Mihir Bose, the awardwinning sports journalist, has been thrown out of Zimbabwe by immigration officials and will leave on a flight from Harare this afternoon.

The Indian-born Bose, an investigative writer, had been sent to cover the Zimbabwe-Sri Lanka series by the London-based Daily Telegraph. "He's been deported," a spokesman for the newspaper confirmed. "He is packing now and will be catching an afternoon flight to Johannesburg."

Bose arrived in Zimbabwe on Monday afternoon. A couple of hours after checking into his hotel, a representative from the department of immigration arrived and confiscated his passport. This morning he was issued with a letter of deportation and escorted to the airport. In February last year, Bose presciently wrote in the Telegraph: "The Mugabe regime seem to be targeting the written British media."

The Zimbabwe Cricket Union claimed that Bose's application for accreditation arrived too late at their offices, and was also incorrectly completed.

Bose is the second reporter from the Telegraph to fall foul of the Zimbabwe authorities. Simon Briggs was refused entry during last year's World Cup, despite having all the correct accreditation. No reason was given, but he was warned by an immigration official that "if you do not get back on that plane you will be forced to get on it".

Zimbabwe's relationship with the UK has deteriorated in recent years - the BBC is banned altogether as it is considered a "terrorist" organisation - and the government has imposed severe restrictions on journalists operating inside the country. Jonathan Moyo, the information minister, has led a purge on foreign correspondents.

The timing of the latest expulsion is particularly embarrassing for Peter Chingoka, the Zimbabwe board's chairman, who is in London to try to convince his England counterparts that November's planned series between the two sides should go ahead.