Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights Director Arnold Tsunga was briefly detained at Harare International Airport on Thursday by state security agents following his arrival from Nairobi, Kenya, where he had attended the World Social Forum, he said.

Tsunga confirmed that he was detained in the airport and interrogated by the officials but resisted further confinement by challenging them to identify themselves.

Tsunga, who is also a trustee of the Voice of the People radio organization, has made a name for himself as one of the country's most prominent human rights defenders. He has frequently been harassed by state security agents in recent years.

He told reporter Patience Rusere of VOA's Studio 7 for Zimbabwe that he might well have been detained for a longer period of time in Thursday's incident if he had not fended off what he took to be agents of the Central Intelligence Organization.

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