(MISA/IFEX) – “The Post” newspaper reporter Dickson Jere, who has been in hiding since December 1997, has finally been arrested. According to “The Post”‘s senior reporter Reuben Phiri, Jere was picked up by police for questioning on the morning of 8 April 1998. Police caught up with the journalist at Lusaka’s Evelyn Hone College of […]
(MISA/IFEX) – “The Post” newspaper reporter Dickson Jere, who has been in
hiding since December 1997, has finally been arrested. According to “The
Post”‘s senior reporter Reuben Phiri, Jere was picked up by police for
questioning on the morning of 8 April 1998. Police caught up with the
journalist at Lusaka’s Evelyn Hone College of Applied Arts and Commerce. It
is not immediately clear why he went to the college.
**Updates IFEX alerts of 24 and 29 December 1997**
Phiri told the Zambia Independent Media Association (ZIMA) today that Jere
was being held at Lusaka’s Police Headquarters.
Background Information
Jere had been sought by the police since December 1997, apparently in
connection with an interview he had with detained former Zambian President
Kenneth Kaunda and the subsequent story published in “The Post” on 27
October 1997.
The story quoted Kaunda, who warned of a political “explosion” in Zambia if
the prevailing political impasse was not resolved. A day after the story was
published, junior Zambian army officers announced a military take-over of
the government in a short-lived coup, which was crushed a few hours later by
government troops.
Kaunda, who left the country shortly after the interview with Jere, was
arrested upon his return on 25 December 1997. He has been charged with
misprisionment of treason. Following pleas from the international community,
Kaunda was removed from a congested maximum-security prison and placed under
house arrest at his private residence in Lusaka.
Legal experts believe police want to solicit more evidence from Jere to
build a case against Kaunda. There is also a possibility Jere may be jointly
charged with Kaunda for misprisionment of treason.
MISA will make more details available as the matter unfolds.
