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| CPJ wants all charges dropped against Zambian journo
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New York, US (PANA) -
The New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ)
has demanded that
charges filed against veteran Zambian journalist Fred M'membe be dropped immedia
tely.
M'membe, the editor-in-chief of Zambia's largest newspaper, was criminally charg
ed for the second time Wednesday
after running an op-ed critical of controversial pornography charges against a j
ournalist, the CPJ said in a statement
obtained by PANA here Friday.
It said Magistrate David Simusamba charged M'membe, a 1995 recipient of CPJ's In
ternational Press Freedom
Award, and the daily Post with contempt of court over an August op-ed on the ong
oing trial of Post News Editor
Chansa Kabwela.
Contempt of court charges may be used against authors of opinion pieces that com
ment on ongoing trials,
according to Zambian law.
If convicted, under the Zambian penal code, M'membe and the paper could be fine
d up to 2 million kwacha (US$430)
each. In the event of non-payment of the fines, M'Membe could be imprisoned for
up to five years and the newspaper's assets could
be seized.
"A magistrate has already dismissed a contempt charge against Fred M'membe, but
the authorities are determined
to censor coverage of this embarrassing story and so are trying again to silence
the paper," said CPJ Africa Programme
Coordinator Tom Rhodes. "The authorities must drop all charges against the paper
and its staff immediately."
Kabwela, news editor for The Post, was arrested in July for circulating two phot
ographs of a woman giving birth
without medical help outside the University Teaching Hospital, the newspaper rep
orted.
On June 10, Kabwela had sent the photos with a letter to the vice president, the
minister of health, the cabinet secretary, the archbishop of
Lusaka, and two civil society groups, urging that a medical workers' strike be s
ettled. Kabwela was charged with
circulating obscene materials.
Magistrate Charles Kafunda, who oversees Kabwela's trial, previously brought con
tempt charges against M'membe and other Post staffers in
August. The charges were later dismissed in September by High Court Judge Albert
Wood.
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| New York - 16/10/2009 |
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