Fred M’membe, editor and owner of the independent Zambian newspaper The Post, was sentenced today to four months in prison with hard labour, after having been found guilty of contempt of court on Wednesday. The contempt citing was brought last year in connection with The Post’s publication of an article by Cornell University professor Muna Ndulo, which described a then-ongoing obscenity case against The Post editor Chansa Kabwela as “a comedy of errors.”

Bizarrely, the newspaper was also found guilty and sentenced to four months in prison, which M’membe will serve on its behalf concurrently with his own sentence. M’membe is currently in detention at the magistrate’s court awaiting transfer to Lusaka Central Prison, although The Post’s legal counsel is attempting to negotiate his release on bail pending appeal, The Post Managing Editor Amos Malupenga told IPI by phone from Lusaka today. Appeal papers have already been filed at court.

“We don’t agree with the reasoning of the judge and so we have appealed. We think that the magistrate misdirected himself in the law and in fact,” Malupenga said.

He added, “This development is an affront to freedom of the press and freedom of expression.”

The current legal battle between The Post and the Zambian government dates back to 10 June 2009 when The Post news editor Chansa Kabwela sent two photographs of a woman giving birth in a street, attached to a letter, to the Zambian health minister, other public officials and civil society members. The act was designed to draw attention to the repercussions of a public health sector strike. The child later died.

At a press conference later that month, Zambian President Rupiah Banda described whoever was responsible for taking the photos as “morbid and peculiar,” and said he hoped “that there are laws in this country to stop the young men from taking pornographic [sic].”
Kabwela was arrested on 13 July 2009 for circulating obscene material contrary to section 177(b) of the Zambian penal code, which makes it illegal to possess or distribute an “object tending to corrupt morals” – despite the fact that the photographs were never published in the newspaper.

At the time, the International Press Institute protested what it branded a political act against a critical newspaper. Kabwela pleaded not guilty the next day.

On 16 November, Lusaka senior magistrate Charles Kafunda ruled that Kabwela had no case to answer – a move welcomed by IPI.

In the course of the trial, though, contempt charges were brought against The Post, its owner Fred M’membe, deputy managing editor Sam Mujuda and Cornell University professor Muna Ndulo – who penned the critical article published by the newspaper.

IPI Press Freedom Manager Anthony Mills said:  “We are dismayed to hear that Fred M’membe has been found guilty of contempt. As we have noted before, it is a violation of universal press freedom values to punish a newspaper for publishing an opinion piece in its editorial pages. Our relief at the acquittal of Chansa Kabwela in the case at the origin of this contempt charge is now overshadowed by our concern at the conviction of Fred M’membe in what appears to be continuing political pressure on his newspaper. He should be released immediately.”

Fred M’membe was named an IPI World Press Freedom Hero in 2000 for his courageous efforts to bring news and information to Zambians through the newspaper he founded in 1990, despite arrests, attacks and intimidation by the government.

Section 116 of the Zambian penal code criminalizes speech or writing that could prejudice opinion regarding an ongoing judicial proceeding. The contempt citation was in connection with a piece written by Ndulo entitled “The Chansa Kabwela case: a comedy of errors,” published in the Post on 27 August. In it, Ndulo wrote that the case against Kabwela was detrimental to Zambia’s image abroad.
Fred M’membe pleaded not guilty to the charges on 14 October 2009. Charges were dropped against Mujuda and Ndulo because they were residing outside the court’s jurisdiction; they will be reissued against Mujuda upon his return.