Charges against Malawi journalists to be dropped

Malawian President Bakili Muluzi on Thursday ordered police to drop their case against three journalists facing charges of publishing "false news" last month, SAPA reported on Friday. The report, quoting the president's aide Willie Zingani, said the three had faced criminal charges of publishing "false information likely to cause public alarm" after the opposition Daily Times ran two stories alleging that serial murders had resurfaced in Chiradzulu district, 15km from Blantyre. Zingani quoted Muluzi as saying he wanted journalists to be professional and not "sensationalise stories." 'Daily Times' editor-in-chief Mike Kamwendo, and reporters Mabvuto Banda and Peter Makossah, were arrested last month for publishing the stories on the killings. Eight men have been brutally murdered since January, with their eyes gouged and their ears and genitals cut off, their report said. The three journalists have insisted the stories were true and based on their investigations into the murders. The newspaper last year uncovered the serial murders which led police to arrest two suspects who were found guilty and sentenced to death by a high court.