(MISA/IFEX) – On 22 August 2001, “The Post” newspaper’s editor-in-chief, Fred M’membe, reporter Bivan Saluseki and opposition sympathiser Edith Nawakwi, pleaded “not guilty” to a charge of “defamation of the president,” when they appeared in a Lusaka Magistrate’s court. Their trial has been scheduled for 5 and 6 September, while their bond was extended. M’membe […]
(MISA/IFEX) – On 22 August 2001, “The Post” newspaper’s editor-in-chief, Fred M’membe, reporter Bivan Saluseki and opposition sympathiser Edith Nawakwi, pleaded “not guilty” to a charge of “defamation of the president,” when they appeared in a Lusaka Magistrate’s court. Their trial has been scheduled for 5 and 6 September, while their bond was extended.
M’membe is alleged to have defamed Zambian President Frederick Chiluba in an editorial titled “A thief for president” published in the 17 August edition of “The Post”, where he alleged that Chiluba had stolen public funds.
Saluseki and Nawakwi are alleged to have defamed Chiluba in a story titled “Chiluba is a thief” published in the 16 July edition of “The Post”. Saluseki authored the story after speaking to Nawakwi.
All three are charged under Section 69 of the Zambian Penal Code, which makes it an offence to publish anything, in any form, deemed as tending to bring the office and person of the president into hatred, ridicule or contempt. The offence carries a maximum penalty of three years in jail without the option of a fine.
BACKGROUND:
On 21 August, Nawakwi, M’membe and Saluseki turned themselves in to police in Lusaka, said Zambian police, who were ordered to find and arrest them on charges of defaming the president. They were questioned by police but the police declined to inform journalists about the progress of the case.
On Monday 20 August police found Dipak Patel, another opposition leader, also wanted on charges of defaming the president. Police discovered him at a private hospital where he had been admitted for an illness.
Patel was quoted in “The Post” as having alleged that Chiluba stole four million U.S. dollars in a maize deal.
All four were believed to have gone into hiding after the arrest order was issued. The order to arrest the two politicians and two journalists came on 20 August, one day after the government closed down Radio Phoenix (see IFEX alerts of 22 and 20 August 2001).
As Zambia’s biggest private radio station with expansive coverage, Radio Phoenix is seen as a major competitor of the state-run Zambia National Broadcasting Corpration radio station. Radio Phoenix has been threatened in the past with closure by the government and ruling party officials who accused it of broadcasting opposition propaganda. The radio station gives coverage to opposition and rights organisations, which are often censored on the state-run media.
The arrest order sparked a backlash, as a broad-based coalition of civic groups and the opposition began circulating a petition titled “President Chiluba is a thief”.
Signatories include opposition leaders Dean Mung’omba and Akashambatwa Lewanika, both of whom served in Chiluba’s cabinet until 1994. On Saturday 18 August, Chiluba said he would consider taking legal action against all those who had defamed him in local newspapers by calling him a thief.
(Source: AFP)
Recommended Action
Send appeals to the president:
– urging him to uphold Zambia’s international and national obligations to press freedom and freedom of expression
– noting that the media play an essential role within a democracy and that attempts to limit their ability to report is in breach of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, in which, under Article 19, everyone has the right to “seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers”
– stating that governments and politicians are in a unique position to counter alleged misreporting by appearing before the media to explain their own views on an item of news
– asking him to cease the harassment of M’membe and Saluseki
Appeals To
H.E. Frederick Chiluba
President
State House
Independence Avenue
Lusaka, Zambia
Fax: +260 1 221 939
Please copy appeals to the source if possible.
