Zambian police on Monday arrested and charged a journalist with having porn on his computer in another apparent crackdown on a publication critical of the government, his lawyer said.
Clayson Hamasaka is the third reporter taken into custody for ostensible links to the Zambian Watchdog, which publishes articles critical of President Michael Sata’s government.
“They have arrested Hamasaka and charged him with the offence of possession of obscene materials,” his lawyer Keith Mweemba told AFP.
“They claimed they found some obscene material on his personal laptop,” he added.
“All is aimed at linking them up to the Zambian Watchdog,” Mweemba said.
The news site withholds its reporters’ names to protect their identities.
The equipment was confiscated in a raid on Hamasaka’s house on July 10, when he was detained with fellow journalist Thomas Zyambo.
Hamasaka was investigated for sedition but later released.
Zyambo was arrested on charges of rebelling against the state, released on bail, then summoned to the police station again on Monday together with Hamasaka.
A conviction for possessing pornography carries a five-year prison sentence in the conservative southern African country.
Police wanted to match Zyambo’s writing to a handwritten biography of President Sata that was found on him during his arrest and led to the sedition charge.
“I am already appearing in court, so why do they want me to write the same thing? They want to now know my handwriting,” Zyambo told AFP at the police offices.
Hamasaka secured bail in the evening and is due in court on August 12.
Critics have accused the government of targeting journalists with trumped-up charges.
Another journalist, Wilson Pondamali, was arrested for possession of restricted information two weeks ago.
Police have refused to release him despite a court granting bail, and he was hospitalised after collapsing in prison.
He remains handcuffed to his hospital bed while undergoing treatment for pneumonia, according to London-based rights group the Media Legal Defence Initiative (MLDI).
MLDI and the Southern African Litigation Center have referred his case to the United Nations and the African Union.
They petitioned the bodies “to declare that Mr. Pondamali’s continued detention violates his right to freedom of expression and liberty, and secure his immediate release,” according to a statement on the MLDI website.
Zambia’s government has meanwhile blocked local access to the Zambian Watchdog.
It remains difficult to confirm the existence of the Barotse Liberation Army, the supposed paramilitary wing of various groups calling for the secession of Zambia’s Western Province. However, if President Michael Sata’s order to the army to kill the rebel activists is anything to go by, the organization is nevertheless considered a serious threat to Zambia’s national security.
The November 30, 2012 order came after it was reported that the rebels were recruiting former soldiers and policemen to serve in the Barotse Liberation Army. Speaking at a Southern African Development Community (SADC) regional Defence Command Staff College graduation ceremony, Sata said:
In Lukulu (Western Province) people have formed a group called Barotse Liberation Army, they are recruiting people. As of today, I am aware that they have recruited 276 people. They are recruiting former army officers, police officers and former poachers they want to rise against us and we have to be prepared… And you the Army Commander I have told you before that I need troop career planes because how can I transport troops to Lukuku?
In a veiled criticism of the army’s lack of preparedness and alleged toleration for unrest in the region, Sata said:
Our soldiers are graduating but some of them, they have never fired a gun since they joined the army until they retire… because it is different to train and to go and do the action. You need to be well trained in order to defend this country.
On a Facebook group, Zambian Voice, Isikanda Wamulwange expressed concern at President Sata’s call:
If military force will be used on the so called “rebels” in the Western province, might this not lead to civil war, is there no better way to resolve this issue.
Chileshe Tayali responded on the same thread:
Surely the President’s outburst is not the best way to sort out BRE [Barotse Royal Establishment] conflict. He is declaring war in public. I find his directives very careless.
A local online publication, the Barotse Post, reported that the soldiers sent to the area pulled out after failing to find rebels:
The Zambian troops began their disgraced pull out from Lukulu on Sunday, 2nd December 2012, after failing to find the imagined Barotse Liberation Army activists. Four helicopters were seen flying out with some of the special forces who were sent on what has proved to be a wild goose chase. In order to save face, the disappointed and ashamed Minister of Defense has pleaded for information on BLA from the locals. This only shows how panicky the Zambian Government gets to be whenever it comes to the Barotseland issue.
The same publication accused the Zambian government of allegedly fabricating lies against against Barotse people:
Not so long ago the Zambian people were fed on a lie that the Barotseland Freedom Movement in Kaoma was recruiting retired military personnel. This claim was recently followed by another malicious one, in the wake of Mr Clement Sinyinda’s resignation as Ngambela [Prime Minister] of Barotseland, that some Lozi people in Senanga and Sesheke were organizing to dethrone the Litunga [king].
Calls for the secession of Western Province have heated up in the last few years over allegations that successive Zambian governments have ignored the Batrotseland Agreement of 1964 which united the region with the rest of Zambia at independence in 1964.
As an opposition leader, Sata promised restoration of the agreement within 90 days of assuming office but, surprisingly, he has now taken a belligerent stance against it and it seems dialogue is not yet on the horizon. – ISN/Sapa/AFP