The Maravi Post

ALERT: Jailed Malawi Ex-Attorney General Kasambara rushed to hospital

Created on Saturday, 18 February 2012 03:00 Written by RAPHAEL TENTHANI & ABEL WEZZI

UPDATED

BLANTYRE--Malawi's detained former Attorney General Ralph Kasambara has been rushed to Blantyre's Mwaiwathu Private Hospital for a heart condition.
 
"He was brought here on a wheel-chair with a heart condition but he was in a stable condition," said a physician on duty at the private hospital.
 
Kasambara's lawyer Wapona Kita said: "We have just arrived at Mwaiwathu with Ralph Kasambara. According to doctors, he has developed a serious cardiac condition and needs constant observation."
 
Kita, on a posting on the social networking site Facebook, said: "He is out of prison hands but still in police hands."

Kasambara was being held at Zomba Maximum Security Prison despite a High Court ruling Friday granting him bail. He first bail was granted by a magistrate on Tuesday but it was ignored. Police said they were still working on the case.

When he was released on Wednesday, he was rearrested only a few hours later. Police, using the current strike by judicial staff as the reason, said proper procedures hadn't been followed in acquiring Kasambara's bail.

On Friday, the Malawi High Court ordered his release but again authorities thumbed their nose that the court ruling.

Contacted late Friday night, prison officials said Kasambara was no longer in their custody. Police said they were waiting for orders from their superiors on what to do next.

Over 30 police officers made the journey from Zomba to Blantyre which is 70 kilometers from the former capital. Currently, 10 police officers are keeping an eye on Kasambara.

Kasambara, Pres Bingu wa Mutharika's harshest critics, was arrested Monday after his associates apprehended a gang of alleged government-sponsored thugs sent to petrol bomb his offices in Blantyre. He has since been charged with assault.

Kasambara, who is one of Malawi's prominent lawyers, was Mutharika's first attorney general after he took power in 2004 but was sacked in 2006.

His arrest this week came hot on the heels of interviews he granted to newspapers in which he described Mutharika as a failed leader who could be impeached.

In another development, unknown assailants have attacked Kasambara's brother's house, Charles, a paralegal, who works with disadvantaged people in the Malawi capital Lilongwe. No casualties were reported.

Stay with MaraPost for latest developments. Read what happened in Zomba on Friday by clicking here.
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©2012 The Maravi Post. Reproduction authorised, with usual acknowledgment

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