The Press Freedom Committee (PFC) of the privately owned Post Newspaper has condemned the jailing of a 35-year-old man for criticizing President Rupiah Banda of Zambia.
The Magistrates Court in Zambia’s third city of Ndola, north of the capital Lusaka, sentenced the Ndola resident to 18 months to jail to serve with hard labor. The man was jailed for having uttered in public that President Banda had “failed” as Zambia’s head of state.
He was reported to police for uttering the words and arrested, tried and sentenced to jail for the utterance. Under Zambia’s laws, it is a criminal offense to be heard making disparaging comments about the head of state.
The charge, which is criminal libel, carries a jail sentence of up to two years upon conviction.
But Chairman of the PFC Sheikh Chifuwe told journalists in Lusaka on Thursday that it was unacceptable for the country to maintain such an oppressive law in a democratic dispensation.
He said the law, if left unchanged, would only serve to intimidate citizens from criticizing the president for fear of being arrested.
He called for the immediate abolition of the law which he said was against freedom of speech guaranteed in the country’s constitution.
Source African Press Agency
African News from NetNewsPublisher.com
Related articles by Zemanta
- Zambian Patriotic Front Rejects Partial Audit of City Council Books (netnewspublisher.com)
- Rural Electrification Program Expands in Zambia (netnewspublisher.com)
- China’s Investments in Zambia Grew 40% in 2009 (netnewspublisher.com)
