(MISA/IFEX) – Zambian police have charged two more reporters from the “Post” newspaper with espionage, bringing to eleven the number of reporters charged, including editor-in-chief Fred M’membe. **Updates IFEX alerts of 26 March, 25 March, 22 March, 19 March, 18 March, 17 March, 15 March, 12 March, 11 March and 10 March 1999** On 30 […]
(MISA/IFEX) – Zambian police have charged two more reporters from the “Post”
newspaper with espionage, bringing to eleven the number of reporters
charged, including editor-in-chief Fred M’membe.
**Updates IFEX alerts of 26 March, 25 March, 22 March, 19 March, 18 March,
17 March, 15 March, 12 March, 11 March and 10 March 1999**
On 30 March 1999, journalist Dickson Jere was charged, and on 31 March news
editor
Mukalya Nampito was charged. The two were charged after they both went to
the police headquarters in Lusaka following a police order to do so. The
order also requested two other journalists, Liseli Kayumba and Reuben Phiri,
to report, but they have not done so yet. Jere and Nampito will appear in
court on 16 April along with the rest of their colleagues who have been
charged.
Meanwhile, on 31 March the Zambian Independent Media Association (ZIMA) held
a public demonstration in downtown Lusaka in support of press freedom in
Zambia. ZIMA reports that about 200 people took part in the march, which
converged at the Freedom Statue on Independence avenue. Various messages
expressing solidarity with the independent media were read out on behalf of
human rights organisations and political parties.
The march was held amid fears expressed last week that police might not
issue a permit allowing it, after a similar march in support of press
freedom, but organised by the National Pressure Group (NPG) and scheduled
for 27 March, was denied a permit
Background Information
The arrest and charging of the eleven journalists is the culmination of an
unprecedented crackdown on the “Post” newspaper, which started on 9 March.
The others who have been charged are: Brighton Phiri, Kelvin Shimo, Joe
Kaunda, Amos Malupenga, Lubasi Katunda, Goodson Machona, Douglas Hapande and
MacPherson Muyumba.
On 9 and 10 March, police arrested six reporters apparently after an order
for the police to arrest all “Post” journalists before dawn on 10 March.
Police tried to arrest more journalists, but they managed to give them the
slip.
The six were released on 12 March following a harbeas corpus application by
the newspaper. On 17 March, the six received summonses, were charged with
espionage, and were released on bail on 18 March. They were not asked to
plead and were told to appear in court again on 16 April. On 19 March, two
more journalists were arrested and charged with espionage, and were released
immediately on bail to appear in court with their colleagues on 16 April.
The arrest of the reporters on 9 March was coupled with a siege of the
“Post” editorial offices and its separately located printing press,
resulting in a delay of several hours in the printing of the paper. On 10
March, police surrounded the two buildings, prevented anyone from entering
or leaving, and cut the power and water supply. On 11 March,
the “Post” failed to appear on the streets of Lusaka as scheduled, the first
time this had happened in its seven-year history. Those trapped in the
building housing the printing press managed to print the paper, but the
police prevented it from being distributed. The 11 March edition of the
paper was eventually sold openly on the streets of Lusaka on the next day.
The crackdown on the “Post” followed an uproar caused in the National
Assembly stemming from the lead story in the paper on 9 March. The story
questioned the military capacity of Zambia to withstand an incursion from
neighbouring Angola.
The article in question can be read on the Internet at:
http://www.zamnet.zm/zamnet/post.arch.20742/news/fpstory.html
Recommended Action
Send appeals to the President:
blocking of the circulation of “The Post” after the “offending” article had
appeared
action suggests that they were using the appearance of the article as an
excuse to shut down “The Post”, an action which they have failed to fulfill
in the past despite various suits and attacks against the paper
it is a violation of Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights
which states that everyone has the right to freedom of expression and the
right to receive and impart information
Appeals To
Frederick Chiluba
President of the Republic of Zambia
State House
Lusaka, Zambia
Fax: +260 1 221 939
E-mail: state@zamnet.zm / mfalus@zamnet.zm
Please copy appeals to the source if possible.
