Seven years on from being forced into exile after wearing black armbands in protest to the Zimbabwe government's policies during a Cricket World Cup match, Henry Olonga and Andy Flower tell Channel 4 News producer David Fuller that they have "no regrets" for turning on their own politicians.

It ended their international sporting careers, forced them into exile and even made them fear for their lives, but Henry Olonga and Andy Flower have told Channel 4 News they have no regrets over wearing black armbands in protest to Robert Mugabe's policies in Zimbabwe back in 2003.

 Much has changed for them since. Andy Flower is now the successful coach of the English cricket team. Henry Olonga also lives in England and has published his autobiography today: "Blood, Sweat and Treason", with Vision Sports Publishing.

 Wearing the black armbands in the the country's first cricket world cup game that year against Namibia, was their way of saying "enough is enough". They wanted the world to take notice and Zimbabwe had to change.

 In a joint statement at the time, the players wrote: "In all the circumstances, we have decided that we will each wear a black armband for the duration of the World Cup.

 "In doing so we are mourning the death of democracy in our beloved Zimbabwe. In doing so we are making a silent plea to those responsible to stop the abuse of human rights in Zimbabwe. In doing so, we pray that our small action may help to restore sanity and dignity to our nation."

 This statement and the wearing of the armbands at the world cup, led to a warrant being issued in Zimbabwe for their arrest on charges of treason - this carries the death penalty in Zimbabwe.

It forced them to retire from international cricket and go into hiding.

 Henry Olonga told Channel 4 News: "I was naive, but I was young and we thought we were changing the world, and that's what you do when you're young. You think you can make a difference. I'm not suggesting in any way that we wouldn't do something honourable. Whether it changed Zimbabwe is obviously questionable."

England coach Andy Flower agreed saying: "When you move out of the very cosseted world of professional sport and into the real world, where real dangers lie, I suppose we were naive in that regard."

 "I would say we didn't achieve a lot in practical terms no, but knew we wouldnt. Our goal was to do something, even if we changed perceptions in a small way, to jog people out of their apathy."

 Change
Since the two players made the famous protest, not much has changed in Zimbabwe.

 Neither cricket stars returned to Zimbabwe, and president Robert Mugabe and his Zanu PF party is still in charge of the country, albeit in a power-sharing deal with opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai of the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC).

 The country is still ravaged by violence, hyper-inflation has crippled its economy and thousands of refugees have fled the nation.

 The two players told Channel 4 News that their actions, their sacrifice may have achieved something, even if small.

 Olonga said: "I can look in the mirror and say, 'I believed in something. I stood up against a vile wicked dictator', it changed my life for better and worse, but the good outweighs the suffering and sacrifices.

 "I at least hope it resonated with people around the world that Zimbabwe's got a problem. I mean in this modern era, this modern age we live in, this globalised world if you will, we ought not to tolerate that kind of nonsense." 

 "I hope that message came through. If it hasn't then I'll feel pretty miffed."

 Flower said: "I don't regret anything actually. I think it was the right thing to do at the time. I think that from the response that we got from very many people in Zimbabwe and a lot of people from around the world, it did jog some people out of their apathy. That was a lot of the feedback that we got."

 The cricket world is keen to have Zimbabwe back and next summer, they are due to play their first test match in six years.

 But as long as Robert Mugabe and Zanu PF remain in power of the country, the wider world is still wary of getting too close