Fred M’membe, editor-in-chief and owner of the Zambian daily the Post, appeared again in court on contempt charges brought against him and his newspaper in connection with an op-ed published in August this year that criticized the then-ongoing “obscenity” case against the Post editor Chansa Kabwela.

In a decision hailed by IPI as a press freedom victory, the case against Kabwela was thrown out of court on 16 November after the magistrate ruled that the prosecution had failed to show that the photos were obscene. Two days later, however, the court ruled that Fred M’membe must nonetheless defend himself against the related contempt charges.

The trial, which began on 4 December, was scheduled to continue yesterday but was delayed because magistrate David Simusamba was attending a workshop, the Post reported this morning.

The Post, M’membe and other staff members were cited with contempt in August following the publication of an opinion piece, written by Cornell University Professor Muna B. Ndulo, which described the process against Kabwela as a “comedy of errors.” Ndulo wrote that the obscenity case was harmful to Zambia’s image abroad.

Kabwela had been accused of distributing obscene materials last June, after she sent photographs of a woman giving birth in the street to the Zambian health minister and vice president. Copies of the photographs and accompanying letter were also sent to several other members of government and civil society.

The photos were meant to draw attention to the suffering caused by a health sector strike; the newborn shown in the photographs later died. “What I did on behalf of the Post was in goodwill, and we wanted to show a desperate situation to the authorities,” Kabwela told IPI in an earlier interview.

Section 116 of the Zambian penal code criminalizes speech or writing that could prejudice opinion regarding an ongoing judicial proceeding.  Fred M’membe, who pleaded not guilty to the charges on 14 October 2009, could face a fine and up to six months in prison if found guilty.

Contempt charges were originally also brought against the Post Deputy Managing Editor Sam Mujuda and Ndulo, but have now been dropped because the two are currently outside the country and therefore outside the court’s jurisdiction. The ruling in M’membe’s trial could determine whether charges are brought against Mujuda and Ndulo on their return to Zambia, M’membe told IPI.
Update to follow.