The journalist, Barry Bearak, and a British citizen who was also arrested, were swept up at a small hotel in the suburbs of the capital, Harare, on Thursday afternoon. The action appeared to be part of a crackdown by government forces after an election that seemed to be turning against President Robert Mugabe and his 28-year grip on the country.

Offices of the main opposition party were also raided, while an American democracy advocate helping local groups monitor the elections was arrested at the airport.

Bearak has been caught up in shifting legal machinations by the authorities. He was first arrested on a charge of working as a journalist without accreditation, but when the police realised that the press law had been changed, he was recharged with falsely presenting himself as a journalist, according to his lawyer, Beatrice Mtetwa.

She said her colleagues, with police officers present, had gone to the attorney general’s office and argued that there was no evidence to support the charge. Officials there agreed, and said Mr. Bearak should be released.

Back at the police station, after several hours of waiting, Mtetwa asked about the delay. “The police advised that they had received orders from above not to release him,” she said. “Obviously they got political instructions from elsewhere to hold them.”

She said officers had given conflicting reasons about why Bearak was being held, including that preparations were in the works for his deportation.