Dozens of Zimbabwean opposition activists arrested at a rally on Sunday have been charged with violating strict new public order legislation.

A police spokesman told the BBC that 62 members of the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) had been charged at a court in Harare and later released on bail.

Mugabe has tightened public order and media legislation

Several of those arrested said they had been tortured by the police.

The detainees included three journalists who work for the independent Daily News.

The newspaper says police broke the arm of one of the journalists, but officials have not confirmed this.

Also among the detainees was an opposition member of parliament, Munyaradzi Gwisai.

He told the BBC that women had been beaten up by police in MCD premises on Sunday, and that they had been made to crawl on the ground.

He said that people had been blindfolded and tortured in the police cells, describing the conditions as "savage".

'Humane police'

But a police spokesman told the BBC that he was not aware that any opposition activists had been injured.

He said the opposition was prone to exaggeration and that Zimbabwe has a "very humane" police force.

All 62 people released on Tuesday will go back to court for a remand hearing on Thursday.

Meanwhile, another magistrates' court in Harare has deferred until early July a decision on whether to proceed with charges against an American journalist who works for a British newspaper, The Guardian.

Andrew Meldrum is charged with publishing falsehoods under drastic new press laws.

He could face a hefty fine or a prison sentence of up to two years.

Meldrum's trial will resume in July

Last week, state-run media reported that President Mugabe had put security forces on high alert to crush any mass demonstrations calling for a re-run of the March presidential elections.

At the weekend, the Zimbabwean Government introduced more restrictions to the work of national and international reporters in what critics see as an attempt to limit foreign media in the country.

An amendment to the new media law says that foreign media companies will need to pay the equivalent of a total of $12,000 US to be registered.