Justin Pearce
Zambian journalists Fred M’membe and Bright Mwape have been released from prison, but M’membe still faces charges of contempt of Parliament.
M’membe and Mwape, respectively the managing editor and editor-in-chief of the independent daily The Post, have spent 24 days in maximum security jails, after the speaker of Parliament ordered their arrest in connection with The Post’s criticism of remarks made in Parliament.
They were arrested in terms of a law allowing for indefinite detention, but on Wednesday they obtained a habeus corpus writ enabling their release. Judge Kabazo Chanda ruled that according to the laws of natural justice it was unreasonable to imprison the editors indefinitely.
However, the judge also declared that an article written by M’membe was in contravention of parliamentary privilege laws, and that Parliament must make a complaint with the Director of Public Prosecutions.
The article written by columnist Lucy Sichone, who has avoided arrest by going into hiding, was similarly in breach of the law, but Mwape’s was not, the judge ruled. Sichone should appear before Parliament when sittings resume on April 13, the judge advised.
Shortly before the journalists’ release, the International Press Institute, which represents editors and publishers from 85 countries, called for the journalists to be freed.
This week the case of Zambia was considered by the United Nations Human Rights Committee (UNHRC). The Zambian chapter of the Media Institute of Southern Africa wrote to UNHCR expressing concern about “the dramatic deterioration in media freedom and free expression in Zambia”, while a report to UNHRC by Amnesty International drew attention to the government’s failure to meet a range of human rights obligations.