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Zambian Priest Arrested
Posted by Tom McFeely
Thursday, November 13, 2008 12:56 PM
Zambian President Rupiah Bata being sworn in Nov. 2. (AFP)
Here’s some post-election news from the continent of Africa.
Father Frank Bwalya, a Zambian Catholic priest, was arrested yesterday for “airing what is being deemed as biased post election analysis,” AfricaNews reported today.
It wasn’t comments about Barack Obama’s presidential victory that prompted the Zambian government to arrest Father Bwalya in the Zambian mining community of Kitwe and charge him “with conduct likely to cause a breach of peace.”
Father Bwalya was arrested while he was discussing the result of Zambia’s Oct. 30 presidential election during a program aired on the Church-owned Radio Icengelo. The Zambian election was won narrowly by Rupiah Banda, the candidate of the country’s ruling Movement for Multi-Party Democracy.
Kitwe is a stronghold of the opposition Patriotic Front party, which alleges the election’s outcome was rigged. AfricaNews reported that Father Bwalya’s arrest triggered violent protests demanding his release.
Following his release today from jail on bail pending a Nov. 27 trial date, BBC reported, Father Bwalya returned to the airwaves to appeal for calm but also promised he would continue to speak out about the outcome of the election.
— Tom McFeely
| Filed under politics, zambia
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