Zimbabwe: Mugabe 'toilet paper' charges deferred

HARARE, Zimbabwe (AP) Zimbabwean court officials say a case against a man who allegedly intended to use an election poster of President Robert Mugabe as toilet paper has been indefinitely deferred.

Officials in the southern town of Masvingo said Wednesday the patron of a bar found no paper in the men's room and allegedly tore down a Mugabe campaign poster. He faced charges under election and security laws surrounding the country's disputed July 31 polls.

Takura Mufumisa, 26, was taken to a nearby police station but no evidence was found that he defiled the poster inside the men's room, prosecutors said.

Insulting Mugabe is a common offense under sweeping security laws that carry a penalty of a fine or imprisonment. No witnesses were found to corroborate the charges, the prosecutors said.

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