CPJ describes obscenity charge slapped on Kabwela as bogus

CPJ describes obscenity charge slapped on Kabwela as bogus
Written by Chiwoyu Sinyangwe
Friday, July 17, 2009 5:23:32 AM

COMMITTEE to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has described the obscenity charge slapped on Post news editor Chansa Kabwela as bogus.
And Reporters Without Borders have described Kabwela's arrest as shocking and the grounds ridiculous.

According to a statement issued in New York on Wednesday, CPJ Africa programme coordinator Tom Rhodes stated that the arrest of Kabwela on bogus charges of circulating obscene materials was alarming.

"The only obscenity in this case is that a child should die outside a hospital for want of proper care," Rhodes said. "The charges against Chansa Kabwela should be dropped immediately, and the ongoing harassment of her newspaper by the authorities must end."

According to latest CPJ research, The Post, which is known to be a tough critic of the President, detailing corruption allegations involving the administration on a regular basis had been targeted with reprisals.

CPJ stated that the ruling MMD supporters had threatened Post staff, including vendors of the paper, on six occasions in the first five months of 2009.

CPJ is an independent, non-profit organisation that was founded in 1981. The organisation, which is headquartered in New York, promotes press freedom worldwide by defending the rights of journalists to report news without fear of reprisal.

And Reporters Without Borders yesterday noted that it was outraged to learn of Kabwela’s arrest on July 13 on a charge of "distributing obscene materials", namely photos of a woman giving birth in a hospital car park.

"Kabwela's arrest is shocking and the grounds are ridiculous. We urge the government to withdraw these absurd charges. Kabwela is clearly innocent because she made a point of not publishing these photos. She just sent them to certain government officials and NGOs," Reporters Without Borders stated. "The photographs are anyway not pornographic. Their aim was to alert the authorities to a public health problem. This episode is just another case of the government obstructing this newspaper's work."

Reporters Without Borders observed that The Post, the country's leading independent newspaper, was being hounded by the authorities.

"Reporters Without Borders is aware of at least six cases of members of its staff being physically or verbally attacked by leaders of the ruling Movement for Multiparty Democracy since the start of the year," the statement read in part.

Reporters Without Borders was founded in 1985 to among other things, defend journalists and media assistants imprisoned or persecuted for doing their job and exposes the mistreatment and torture of them in many countries, to fight against censorship and laws that undermine press freedom.

The organisation, which is registered in France as a non-profit making organisation, is present on all the five continents and has consultant status at the United Nations.