(MISA/IFEX) – On 25 June 1998, the editor of the defunct “Crime News” and “Confidential” newspapers, Steward Mwila, was detained and searched by a combined team of police and immigration officers as he was about to leave for South Africa. Mwila told the Zambia Independent Media Association (ZIMA) that he was made to disembark from […]
(MISA/IFEX) – On 25 June 1998, the editor of the defunct “Crime News” and
“Confidential” newspapers, Steward Mwila, was detained and searched by a
combined team of police and immigration officers as he was about to leave
for South Africa. Mwila told the Zambia Independent Media Association (ZIMA)
that he was made to disembark from a scheduled bus to Johannesburg and asked
to accompany the security officers, who had a search warrant stating that
they were looking for “subversive materials.” He said he was taken to
police headquarters where all his personal belongings, including a computer
he was carrying, were systematically searched for over three hours. Mwila
added that he was made to leave all his personal belongings, including his
passport, with the police, who asked him to report back on 26 June. Mwila’s
lawyer, Mainza Chona, confirmed that his client had been searched.
Mwila described the search as an act of “harassment” by the state following
his revelations to “The Post” newspaper earlier this year that he had
participated in a State House sponsored plot to discredit the Chief Justice
through a bogus rape story published in the “Confidential” newspaper in
1996. State House denies having played any part in the stories.
