HARARE, March 12 (Reuters) - Zimbabwe's main opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai was severely assaulted in detention and had to be taken to hospital for treatment following his arrest on Sunday over a banned prayer rally, his lawyer said. "He was in bad shape, he was swollen very badly. He was bandaged on the head. You couldn't distinguish between the head and the face and he could not see properly," Innocent Chagonda, an attorney, told Reuters after visiting a Harare police station where Tsvangirai was being held.

Chagonda said he had not spoken to Tsvangirai, who heads the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), because police had denied lawyers access to the dozens of opposition and civic leaders arrested in the crackdown on anti-government forces.

"I managed to see him from about 10 metres inside the police holding fence at Borrowdale Police Station. They were being paraded," he said.

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