Zimbabwean police have arrested a 65-year-old former judge who earlier this year sentenced a government minister to a jail term.

Retired high court judge Fergus Blackie was arrested at four o'clock on Friday morning at his home, according to friends of the family.

The arrest is the latest incident in a series of conflicts between the government of President Robert Mugabe and the judiciary.

Judges have overturned government decisions on the media and the land resettlement programme, to the anger of ministers.

Seven judges have resigned or retired early from the bench in the last 15 months, and there is only one white judge left in the high court.

Twelve white farmers were also reported to have been arrested in the southern area of Chiredzi on Friday for defying eviction orders requiring them to leave their farms.

On the same day, the government gazette published new regulations on land resettlement which are intended to speed up the process of land redistribution.

Fraud

The arrested judge came into conflict with the government on 18 July, the day of his retirement from the high court.

He sentenced the Justice Minister, Patrick Chinamasa, to three months in prison and fined him 50,000 Zimbabwe dollars ($900) for contempt of court.

The sentence was later overturned on appeal.

The Information Minister called the judge a racist

Information Minister Jonathan Moyo accused the judge of racism after the verdict against his fellow minister.

Former Justice Blackie has been detained in connection with a fraud case in which he quashed the conviction of a white woman convicted of stealing from her employer.

The South African press agency reported that the judge is said to have overturned the conviction against the woman without consulting the black judge who sat with him in the case.

No charges have been laid against Mr Blackie.

Challenging evictions

The white farmers' support group Justice for Agriculture (JAG) said on Friday that 12 white farmers in the Chiredzi district in the south of the country had been arrested for defying eviction orders that required them to leave the farm.

John Worswick of JAG said that the men, all sugar farmers, were likely to be held over the weekend, according to the French news agency, AFP.

Farmers have faced eviction and arrest

He added that all 12 were planning to challenge the eviction orders.

The government is attempting to speed up the evictions of white farmers.

The government gazette on Friday published new regulations to make it easier to seize land.

The proposed new measures, which parliament is likely to debate next week, cut the time given to farmers to leave farms from 90 down to seven days and increase fines for defying orders from 20,000 to 100,000 Zimbabwe dollars ($1,800).

John Worswick of JAG said that farmers knew of the new proposals and would challenge them in court if they are passed by parliament.