(LUSAKATIMES) M’membe begins serving prison term
COMMENT - This is about intimidating the press. Since when is anyone sentenced to 4 months of hard labour for 'contempt of court'? Fred M'Membe will need everyone's support, so I suggest you start writing to Amnesty International, your Congressman an Senator, your MP, and any organisation you can think of. This is an outrageous sentence. This is all about intimidating the press in the runup to the 2011 elections. See also here on Youtube ("Fred M'Membe goes to jail").M’membe begins serving prison term
Friday, June 4, 2010, 19:22
Post editor Fred M'membe being escorted to Lusaka Central remand prison under heavy guard. This was shortly after being sentenced to serve four months with hard labour by Lusaka magistrate David Simusamba. Picture courtesy of Post Newspaper
Post Newspapers Editor-in-Chief Fred M’membe who was this morning sentenced to four months imprisonment with hard labour has been taken to Lusaka Central Prison to begin serving his prison sentence.
His lawyers George Chisanga and Remmy Mainza struggled to get him out on bail pending appeal to the High Court. According to information received, Magistrate David Simusamba who is supposed to sign the bail has disappeared, leaving prison officers without an option but to send Mr. M’membe to Prison.
Mr. M’membe has been sentenced to four months imprisonment with hard labour after being found guilty of contempt of court together with the Post Newspapers by Magistrate Simusamba.
Mr M’membe has also been sentenced to four months simple imprisonment on behalf of the Post Newspapers, after Magistrate David Simusamba set free Post Human Resources Director Rueben Phiri who was standing in for the Newspaper.
Passing sentence this morning, Magistrate Simusamba said Phiri could not be the right person to suffer for the Post. He said the sentences will run concurrently meaning Mr M’membe will only serve a four months jail term.
Magistrate Simusamba said the sentence is meant to reform Mr M’membe as well as to deter would be offenders.
QFM
Labels: CORRUPTION, DAVID SIMUSAMBA, FRED M'MEMBE, PRESS FREEDOM, THE POST
posted by MrK @ 9:13 PM
2 Comments:
From the CJP Mailing List:
CPJ: Zambia should halt harassment of The Post, M'membe
From: Mohamed Keita (mkeita@cpj.org)
Sent: Sat 6/05/10 1:55 AM
COMMITTEE TO PROTECT JOURNALISTS
330 Seventh Avenue, New York, NY 10001 | Phone: (212) 465-1004 | Fax: (212) 465-9568 | Web: www.cpj.org
In Zambia, The Post editor Fred M’membe sent to prison
New York, June 4, 2010—Veteran Zambian Editor Fred M’membe was sent to prison today following his sentencing for contempt of court sparked by an op-ed on the state’s prosecution of a journalist, according to local journalists and news reports.
Having convicted M’membe earlier this week, Magistrate David Simusamba sentenced the the editor-in-chief of Zambia’s largest newspaper, The Post, to four months in prison with hard labor, according to news reports. M’membe, a 1995 recipient of CPJ’s International Press Freedom Award, was immediately escorted to Chimbokaila Prison in the capital, Lusaka, where he will spend the weekend pending an application for bail, The Post’s assistant editor, Sheikh Chifuwe, told CPJ. Defense lawyers have already filed an appeal.
“We condemn this particularly harsh prison sentence of one of Zambia’s most prominent editors, which sets back press freedom and the democratic gains in Zambia,” said CPJ Africa Program Coordinator Tom Rhodes. “Fred M’membe should be released on bail immediately and his conviction overturned on appeal.”
The magistrate justified the prison sentence by asserting that the paper’s publication of a November 2009 op-ed about the trial of Post News Editor Chansa Kabwela on alleged obscenity charges was likely to seriously prejudice that case, according to news reports. Kabwela’s charges related to her mailing to officials unpublished photos of a woman delivering a baby without medical assistance during a hospital strike. She was acquitted in November 2009.
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CPJ is a New York-based, independent, nonprofit organization that works to safeguard press freedom around the world.
From the pro-government (and therefore pro-MMD) Lusaka Times:
M’membe granted bail (UPDATED)
Monday, June 7, 2010, 16:04
Post Editor-in-Chief Fred M’membe
Convicted Post Newspapers Editor-in Chief Fred M’membe has been granted bail pending appeal worthy K20 million Kwacha
[$3,333 - MrK]
in his own recognizance by a Lusaka Magistrate court with two working sureties.
His lawyer Remmy Mainza told journalists at the Lusaka Magistrate Complex this afternoon that M’membe has been granted a free bail by Magistrate David Simusamba. This means Mr. M’membe will not have to pay the money unless he defaults bail conditions.
The bail which was supposed to be signed this morning was delayed until after 15:00 hrs, because his lawyers were told to make some amendments to the notice of appeal which was presented earlier to Senior Resident Magistrate David Simusamba.
And speaking to journalists after he was released, Mr M’membe,who was clad in a pair of jeans, a pair of canvas, a checked shirt and a black cap said he does not understand what the alleged corrupt government of President Rupiah Banda has achieved by his conviction.
Mr M’membe said the Post Newspapers will continue operating as before, adding that his spirit remains the same and shall never be crashed.
M’membe further said that there is a great need to improve the judicial system in the country. He said the judicial system is not operating the way it ought to be.
Meanwhile, M’membe has appealed to authorities to look into the plight of prisoners whose situation he has described as ‘Worse than That of Dogs and Chickens’ in people’s homes.
M’membe has also thanked all those who turned up at the court today to give him moral support, mostly women clad in opposition UPND chitenge materials and T-shirts who sang songs of solidarity.
The Post Editor-in-Chief was last Friday sentenced to four months imprisonment after being convicted for contempt of court arising from an article by US based Zambian professor of law Muna Ndulo titled “the Chansa Kabwela trial,a Comedy of errors”.
[ QFM ]
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