Chansa Kabwela: Zambia Newspaper Editor Arrested For 'Porn'

Chansa Kabwela, the news editor of The Post--Zambia's independent newspaper--was arrested Monday for circulating a picture of a woman giving birth without proper medical assistance, which was described by police as pornographic in nature and in violation of Zambian law, allAfrica reports:

Kabwela was interrogated for and then released with a warning, according to the allAfrica report. Her stated purpose for circulating the letter was to compel government officials to force health workers to cease an ongoing strike. From allAfrica:
Ms Kabwela said the intention of sending the pictures to a few selected people was to make them aware of the situation so that they could be moved to do something about the plight of women as a result of the strike.

The pictures of the woman giving birth was circulated widely on the Internet, prompting President Rupiah Banda, during his last news conference, to instruct the police to find out the source and ensure that the offender was prosecuted.

According to IAFrica, Kabwela turned herself in to clarify that she had no intention of spreading the photo, and only wanted it to be seen by those in a position of power to end the health workers' strike:

Chansa Kabwela turned herself into police, who interrogated her for one hour over the photo that never appeared in the paper but which Kabwela gave to Zambian women's groups and to the vice president's office.

Get HuffPost World On Facebook and Twitter!

Comments

[AllenD]

"The pictures of the woman giving birth was circulated widely on the Internet, prompting President Rupiah Banda, during his last news conference, to instruct the police to find out the source and ensure that the offender was prosecuted."

Maybe President Banda's monkey made him angry.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/06/25/monkey-pees-on-zambian-pr_n_220801.html

[AllenD]

"The pictures of the woman giving birth was circulated widely on the Internet, prompting President Rupiah Banda, during his last news conference, to instruct the police to find out the source and ensure that the offender was prosecuted."

Was that before or after he got peed on by a monkey?

[llisa]

Chansa Kabwela was very brave to do this. Did the strike end yet?

[KataVideo]

nothing more unnatural and pornographic than the miracle of life