Malawi police arrested eight ruling-party youth militants on Friday in connection with the murder of a prominent, anti-government Muslim cleric two years ago.
”These people are suspects in the murder of Sheikh Bugudad el-Bannh,” police spokesperson Willie Chingalu said.
He said the members of the Young Democrats, a youth wing of the United Democratic Front, were arrested on Friday morning in Liwonde, the home town of Sheikh Abdul Hamid Bugudad el-Bannah, 120km from Blantyre.
The arrests came after two senior politicians of the ruling party — a top aide to former Malawi president Bakili Muluzi and an ex-lawmaker — were charged in October with the same murder.
Humphrey Mvula, a close confidante of Muluzi, and ex-MP Rodson Jangiya — who is the deputy leader of the youth wing — remain in jail after being charged with murdering the cleric and conspiring to murder his wife.
The Young Democrats, notorious for beating up government critics during Muluzi’s 10-year rule, are suspected of assaulting the cleric, who later died in hospital of injuries.
The cleric, head of the Sunni Muslims’ Supreme Council of Malawi, led street protests in 2002 after publishing a scathing open letter in which he accused Muluzi of tolerating graft.
Police detained him along with 600 of his followers after riot police thwarted their move to march to the presidential palace, on the outskirts of the commercial capital of Blantyre.
The party’s secretary general, Ken Makwangwal, confirmed the arrests: ”Yes, the people arrested are our Young Democrats.” — Sapa-AFP