(MISA/IFEX) – Director of Public Prosecution (DPP) Fahad Assani has instructed police to drop a case against Frank Namangale, a reporter for “Daily Times” newspaper. Namangale had been charged with authoring an article likely to cause “breach of public peace”. In the article, which was published in September 2003, Namangale quoted police sources as having […]
(MISA/IFEX) – Director of Public Prosecution (DPP) Fahad Assani has instructed police to drop a case against Frank Namangale, a reporter for “Daily Times” newspaper. Namangale had been charged with authoring an article likely to cause “breach of public peace”.
In the article, which was published in September 2003, Namangale quoted police sources as having said that President Bakili Muluzi’s son had been involved in an armed robbery. Police detained Namangale for a few hours before releasing him on bail, saying it was the president’s nephew who had been involved, and not his son.
In an interview, Assani told the local press that Namangale did not have to answer to the charge since the mere mention of Muluzi in an article did not mean the president was involved.
“In a family there is always one who is a rotten apple and it does not mean that they should be spared because their relation is a president,” Assani said.
The DPP said the story the reporter wrote was credible, the only error being that it made reference to Muluzi’s son when it should, in fact, have made reference to his nephew.
“The story was not a fabrication and it did not warrant the arrest of a journalist,” he said.
Assani vowed to protect journalists as long as they conduct themselves in a professional manner.
“I view the press as the fourth estate who are supposed to be watchdogs. Without them, we cannot perform [well]. If there were no journalists, most things would be buried under the carpet,” he said.
MISA-Malawi has described Assani’s decision as significant in the struggle for media freedom in Malawi and has encouraged other government officials to follow Assani’s example.
