President Robert Mugabe’s government on Thursday extended its crackdown on Zimbabwe’s opposition with the arrest of a newspaper editor and a threat to arrest an opposition leader.

Davison Maruziva, editor of the Standard newspaper was arrested on Thursday on charges of publishing false statements prejudicial to the state and contempt of court. The charges arose from an article written by Arthur Mutambara, leader of the breakaway-wing of the Movement for Democratic Change that was published on April 20. Police said Mr Mutambara faced similar charges. The article was highly critical of President Mugabe, accusing him of intimidation and urging him to step down from the presidency.