Media freedom under threat says watchdog

Zambian police are investigating charges of sedition and criminal libel against two journalists, raising concern that freedom of expression is under threat. Sipo Kapumba, a spokesman for the Media Institute of Southern Africa (MISA) Zambia, told IRIN the police had summoned Fred M'membe, editor of the privately-owned The Post newspaper, on 29 June after a series of editorials critical of President Levy Mwanawasa's government. "We are especially concerned because the government has invoked criminal law against the journalist concerned," Kapumba noted. He said M'membe had signed a 'warned and cautioned' statement at police headquarters and was informed he was under investigation for possible criminal libel. The investigation related to various editorials and articles in The Post questioning the withdrawal of criminal charges against former senior health official Kashiwa Bulaya. Bulaya allegedly misappropriated US $600,000 meant for the purchase of antiretrovirals, although the case had been investigated by the Task Force on Corruption and withdrawn at the behest of the attorney-general. The Post subsequently accused Mwanawasa and other senior government officials of shielding Bulaya because he had testified in favour of Mwanawasa when opposition parties had challenged his presidency in the Supreme Court. In yet another editorial on the matter on Monday, The Post defended its decision to call "Levy a liar, a dishonest man and one who has acted foolishly and stupidly". Last month reports emerged that ruling party supporters had attacked vendors selling The Post and confiscated copies of the newspaper from its printing plant in the capital, Lusaka. The ruling Movement for Multiparty Democracy (MMD) denied that it had authorised the attacks. "We are committed to a democratic regime and believe in the freedom of the press," MMD spokesman Akashambatwa Mbikusita-Lewanika told IRIN at the time. In a separate incident on 22 June, journalist Anthony Mukwita was summoned by police to sign a 'warned and cautioned' statement and was informed that he could face a charge of sedition. Mukwita, a part-time presenter at the independent Radio Phoenix, had read an anonymous fax on air during an interactive talk show on 10 June. The content of the fax was allegedly seditious and police later interviewed Mukwita and both his in-studio guests. Mukwita was subsequently fired from the radio station. He told IRIN, "I think there is a deliberate attempt to muzzle [the] private media ahead of the 2006 elections as, barely a week after I was interrogated, they moved [against] the only privately owned daily newspaper [The Post]." Kapumba said the government "could have used civil libel law [against M'membe]" rather than criminal law. "We have a law which forbids defamation of the president," he pointed out. "The moment you begin to criminalise freedom of expression, you will be perceived as clamping down on the same freedom of expression that is guaranteed in the constitution. In the case of Anthony [Mukwita] they could have talked to him about it, but they've chosen to take him to court, which is obviously a matter of concern," Kapumba added. He noted the ongoing trial of a Zambian student who had held up protest placards at a rally addressed by Mwanawasa in February. "He's in his early twenties and is facing criminal charges for staging a demonstration at a rally addressed by President Mwanawasa. He was complaining about this year's budget and arguing that it had provided little for the health sector, education and the poor. This young man has been charged with the offence of inciting people to riot; he was alone at the rally and he flashed a couple of homemade placards. The police descended on him and he was in jail for several days," Kapumba remarked. With the MMD's party elections due next month and the country's national elections next year, Kapumba noted that the political temperature was rising, and "party supporters [had] become agitated and less tolerant of divergent views". International Press Institute director Johann P. Fritz said, "It is clear that the government is applying pressure on The Post to change its editorial position on the president and the corruption case involving Bulaya." "Although they use uncompromising language, the editorials and articles carried in The Post are part of the usual cut and thrust of the daily news cycle, and the Zambian government must resist the temptation to apply the rule of law to silence them." MMD national secretary Vernon Mwaanga told IRIN the right to freedom of expression "is accompanied by obligations". The investigations underway against M'membe and Mukwita would not "affect freedom of expression in any way ... every country has rules and regulations, and there are times [when we have] to try and draw the line between criticism and insults", he commented. "Insults against the head of state are not allowed under the penal code - you can't exercise rights without exercising obligations as well," Mwaanga said. "Criticism is always welcome ... [but] there will be instances where journalists will cross the line and [the] police, who have a duty to enforce the law of the country, will want to talk to the journalists concerned and make sure they are reminded that along with their rights come obligations."