Journalist Appeals to Lungu For Release of Blogger Derrick Sinjela

Veteran journalist and blogger Derick Sinjela is currently incarcerated in Zambia. He was jailed for contempt and handed a custodial sentence for 18 months. He was sentenced for his remarks over the Savenda vs Stanbic case in which he alleged there were instances of corruption and irregularities.

Fellow journalist Dawood Salim has appealed to the President to release Mr Sinjela;

‘Your Excellency, I write to you in my personal and individual capacity to echo calls already made by fellow journalists, media bodies and other interested parties that have beseeched you to invoke your discretion on the prerogative of mercy as President of the Republic of Zambia and pardon our jailed colleague Derrick Sinjela, Editor of The Rainbow Newspaper.

This is not the first instance of a journalist being wrongly imprisoned. For much of the PF’s time in government there has been a pattern of harassment and intimidation, both towards independent journalists and news outlets.

Indeed the only large-circulation private daily paper, The Post, was a victim of this and no longer exist for the simple reason they a more critical stance of the government. In addition Smaller, independent outlets, such as the Daily Nation newspaper and two critical websites, the Zambian Watchdog and Zambia Reports, have faced increasing legal and extrajudicial harassment.