(MISA/IFEX) – The Malawi High Court has ordered the suspension of criminal investigations in a case in which two journalists are being accused of inciting mutiny until the court rules on whether the case should proceed. **Updates IFEX alerts of 23 June and 22 June 1999** The two journalists, “Malawi News” editor Horace Somanje and […]
(MISA/IFEX) – The Malawi High Court has ordered the suspension of criminal
investigations in a case in which two journalists are being accused of
inciting mutiny until the court rules on whether the case should proceed.
**Updates IFEX alerts of 23 June and 22 June 1999**
The two journalists, “Malawi News” editor Horace Somanje and senior reporter
Mabvuto Banda, were arrested and subsequently charged on 21 June 1999.
In arguments before the court, the journalists’ lawyer, Ralph Kasambara,
called for the proceedings to be scrapped completely, saying the arrest of
the two was unconstitutional since the Malawi Constitution granted everyone
the right to free speech.
“The action by the state in arresting the two journalists is ultra vires as
the charges brought against them are based on unconstitutional provisions
that are inconsistent with the constitutional provisions guaranteeing
freedom of the press and expression,” he said.
Quoting the preamble to the 1995 revised Malawi Constitution, Kasambara
argued that the law used in arresting the two journalists was invalid since
the preamble stated that any law “at variance with this Constitution shall
be invalid.”
Making his ruling on 8 July, Presiding Judge Mackson Mkandawire ordered that
criminal proceedings in the case be suspended pending a judicial review by
the High Court which would rule whether to continue hearing the case or not.
No date has been set yet for the judicial review. Meanwhile, Mackson
Kazombo, the assistant editor at the “Malawi News”, told MISA that the two
journalists were still having to report to the Blantyre police twice a week
in line with the terms of their bail conditions.
Background Information
Police in Blantyre arrested the two journalists early on 21 June for
allegedly inciting the Malawi Army to take over the country. The arrest
followed a report which appeared in the “Malawi News” on 19 June, quoting
angry opposition supporters calling for the army to take over the country
because President Bakili Muluzi and his United Democratic Front had rigged
the 15 June elections.
The story in the paper was a report about an 18 June demonstration in front
of the Blantyre court house in support of a court action challenging the
results of the recent general election. The crowd reportedly chanted “take
over, take over” to the army and police when they arrived to break up the
demonstration.