Malawi ghost story lives on
Tue Mar 22, 1:32 PM ET
BLANTYRE (Reuters) - Malawi prosecutors have said they are filing new charges against two journalists over a story which said President Bingu wa Mutharika was afraid of ghosts, this time accusing them of disrespect.
Reuters Photo
The journalists, Raphael Tenthani of the BBC and Mabvuto Banda, who works for the influential daily Nation newspaper and Reuters, were released on police bail last week.
The journalists, along with Horace Nyaka, an aide to Vice President Cassim Chilumpha, were detained on March 15 after they ran stories quoting government officials as saying Mutharika had moved out of his presidential palace over fears it was haunted.
Police described the stories as falsehoods and suggested the men could be charged with causing public alarm -- although no charges were immediately brought.
Director of Public Prosecutions Ishmael Wadi said on Tuesday that new charges were being laid against the journalists.
"The charges have been changed to publishing an article cultivated to disrespect the high office of the president of the protected flags, emblems and names of the laws of Malawi," Wadi told the private Capital Radio.
"We have decided to amend because the first charges had elements that could not be easily proved in court."
Mutharika, 73, a former economist with the World Bank (news - web sites), reacted angrily to the stories, telling reporters at the weekend he had not met any ghosts in the 300-room palace and was in any case not afraid of them.
Innocent Chitosi, a Malawi representative for the Media Institute for Southern Africa which has hired lawyers to represent the two journalists, said the government's decision to press ahead with charges was a surprise.
"This is another bizarre charge that government has decided to charge the journalists with ... this only shows the appetite that government has to use repressive laws to intimidate the media in Malawi," he said.