4 months jail with hard labor for Zambia publisher in street birth photos case
By APSaturday, June 5, 2010
Zambia publisher jailed for critical comment
LUSAKA, Zambia — Award-winning Zambian press freedom campaigner and newspaper publisher Fred M’membe begins a four month jail sentence for a case involving photographs of a woman giving birth on a street during a health services strike, his newspaper says.
Amos Mapulenga, managing editor of the daily Post newspaper, says M’membe was sentenced Friday to four months imprisonment with hard labor. He was convicted of publishing critical comment on state maternity services after an editor faced pornography charges for e-mailing officials photos of the woman giving birth to illustrate the consequences of a health workers’ strike. She was later acquitted.
Mapulenga says Saturday the newspaper will lodge an appeal Monday and seek bail for M’membe.
