(MISA/IFEX) – On 7 April 1998, Masautso Phiri , former special projects editor for “The Post”, appeared before a magistrates court in the central Zambian town of Kabwe. Phiri has been charged with “conduct likely to cause a breach of the peace.” **Updates IFEX alerts of 25 and 26 August 1997** Phiri, who has denied […]
(MISA/IFEX) – On 7 April 1998, Masautso Phiri , former special projects
editor for “The Post”, appeared before a magistrates court in the central
Zambian town of Kabwe. Phiri has been charged with “conduct likely to cause
a breach of the peace.”
**Updates IFEX alerts of 25 and 26 August 1997**
Phiri, who has denied the charge, was arrested on 23 August 1997, and
detained for two days before being released on a police bond. He was
arrested while taking photographs of a violent police dispersal of an
opposition rally in Kabwe in August 1997, at which opposition United
National Independence Party (UNIP) president Kenneth Kaunda and Liberal
Progressive Front (LPF) chairman Roger Chongwe were shot and wounded by
police. His camera was seized and the film was ripped out during the arrest.
On 8 April 1998, Phiri told the Zambia Independent Media Association (ZIMA):
“What
has emerged so far in the trial is that the state wants to give an
impression that my conduct on the day of my arrest was disorderly when in
fact I was arrested for doing my job as a reporter.” His trial began in
September 1997. Phiri retired from “The Post” in January 1998.
