October 28, 1999
His Excellency President Frederick Chiluba
State House
Independence Avenue
Lusaka, Zambia
VIA FAX: 011-260-1-221939
Your Excellency,
The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is dismayed to learn that twelve journalists with the independent daily newspaperThe Post have been summoned to appear in the High Court in Lusaka on November 1 on charges of espionage.
Defense Minister Chitalu Sampa ordered the crackdown on The Post and its staff in retaliation for a story titled “Angola Worries Zambia Army, ZAF [Air Force]” that appeared in the March 9 edition of the paper. The article quoted senior, unnamed military officers to the effect that Zambia could not withstand a military attack by Angola. The Post’s editor-in-chief, Fred M’membe, maintains that all the information in the article was freely available in Jane’s Military Report on the Internet.
That same day, police arrested reporters Lubasi Mwangala Katundu, Kelvin Shimo, and Joe Kaunda at their homes in Lusaka. Later that evening, police began roving through the city in search of the newspaper’s editorial staff, following an apparent order to arrest them all before dawn. By March 10, police had also arrested Amos Malupenga, Brighton Phiri and Goodson Machona.
On March 10 police also besieged the editorial offices and the printing press of The Post, cutting off power and water supplies and trapping a number of staff inside. The police siege was called off on March 12, shortly after the six arrested journalists were released on a writ of habeus corpus. On March 17, police went to The Post’s editorial offices to issue summonses and formally charge the six journalists with espionage under the State Security Act. In court the following day, each of the six was granted bail of K 100,000 (US $43).
Three days later, police arrested two more Post reporters, Douglas Hapande and MacPherson Muyumba, on similar espionage charges. They were picked up at their homes, detained briefly, and then released. Fred M’membe, The Post’s editor-in-chief, was arrested on the same charge on March 22, and immediately released on bail. Between March 30 and 31, four more Post journalists–Dickson Jere, Mukalya Nampito, Liseli Kayumba and Reuben Phiri–were also charged with espionage.
On April 16, twelve of the thirteen journalists were committed to the High Court for trial on espionage charges. (The thirteenth, Amos Malupenga, was released after all charges against him were dropped without explanation).
As a nonpartisan organization of journalists dedicated to the defense of our colleagues worldwide, we are dismayed and outraged by these latest prosecutions, which seem part of a systematic effort by your government to suppress critical reporting. Such practices are the hallmark of an authoritarian regime, and are therefore incompatible with the democratic principles for which Your Excellency’s regime claims to stand.
We would like to remind you that these prosecutions clearly violate all international press freedom standards, including treaties to which Zambia is a signatory. CPJ strongly urges Your Excellency to ensure that the twelve Post journalists are released unconditionally. We further ask that you take all appropriate measures to ensure journalists’ right to report the news freely and without reprisal.
Thank you for your attention to these important matters. We welcome your comments.
Sincerely,
Ann K. Cooper
Executive Director
Join CPJ in Protesting Attacks on the Press in Zambia
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His Excellency President Frederick Chiluba
State House
Independence Avenue
Lusaka, Zambia
VIA FAX: 011-260-1-221939