Mark Chavunduka, the Nieman Fellow who returned to Zimbabwe for his scheduled Oct. 4 trial, is back at Harvard this week after his trial was postponed.

International controversy erupted after Chavunduka, editor of the weekly Zimbabwe Standard, and Ray Choto, a reporter for the paper, were illegally arrested and tortured by members of the military for refusing to divulge their sources for a December 1998 story on an attempted coup d'etat by the Zimbabwe National Army.

"They appeared in court on Oct. 4 as expected, but this was for further remand and review of their bail conditions," said Claudia A. McElroy, coordinator of the Africa program for the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ). The committee, a 20-member humanitarian group, has been protesting the Zimbabwean government's treatment of the journalists for several months.

Chavunduka's next remand hearing is scheduled for Jan. 4, 2000. But if the Zimbabwe Supreme Court rules that the law under which he and Choto were arrested is unconstitutional, charges will be dismissed.

The country's parliament has repealed the law, but the president has not yet signed the repeal into effect.

"It was a colonial law used to suppress black nationalists in colonial Rhodesia," McElroy said.

She said the CPJ was unsure whether the Supreme Court would overturn the law.

"We and other press freedom organizations are waiting to see what decision they make," McElroy said.