The Maravi Post

Malawian Anti-Mutharika lawyer Kasambara finally released

Created on Tuesday, 21 February 2012 18:04 Written by RAPHAEL TENTHANI

BLANTYRE--After a week of worldwide condemnation, Malawi's former Attorney General Ralph Kasambara, has been freed.

He arrested over a week ago after his security team apprehended and reported to police three men he said confessed they had been sent by the ruling party to petro bomb his office. The government accused him or kidnapping and torturing the three but Kasambara denies the charges.
 
Kasambara’s lawyer Wapona Kita told MaraPost: "Yes, the police have now left the hospital after making him sign police bail papers.

"Mr. Kasambara is still in hospital awaiting instructions from his doctors," said Kita.

Kasambara was rushed to hospital from prison for a long-time heart condition. He wasn’t allowed to take his medication with him when he was rearrested.

Kita nonetheless said the outspoken lawyer has instructed them not to drop contempt of court charges he leveled against police and prison authorities for ignoring two earlier court bail rulings.

Blantyre Principal Resident Magistrate Innocent Nebi last Tuesday granted him bail but police rearrested him only hours after being released on Wednesday. Zomba High Court judge Godfrey Mwase also released him on bail on Thursday but again the bail order was ignored.
 
Said Kita: "The fact that the police have released him on police bail doesn’t expunge the fact that they are in contempt of court after ignoring earlier court rulings. We're going ahead with contempt of court proceedings."
 
Kasambara will appear in court on Friday to answer an amended one count of assault.
 
His release comes after a concerted local and worldwide campaign to have him released on bail.

Opposition and church leaders in Malawi joined international human rights organisations from the Open Society, Commonwealth, the United Nations, International Commission of Jurists and Amnesty International in condemning the administration of Pres Bingu wa Mutharika for disrespecting court orders.
 
Kasambara was arrested after his associates intercepted a gang of five allegedly sent by government to petrol bomb his offices in Blantyre. The thugs, during interrogation, confessed they were sent by government to harm Kasambara.
 
Government spokesperson Patricia Kaliati, however, denied the charges but accused Kasambara was kidnapping and torturing the suspects to extract confession.
 
Kasambara was President Bingu wa Mutharika's first Attorney General when he came to power in 2004. The two soon fell out and Kasambara became a thorn in the side of the 77-year-old economist-turned-politician.
 
His arrest came fast on the heels of publication of hard-hitting interviews in the press where he called Mutharika "a tin-pot dictator" who must resign or be impeached for incompetence and disregard of the Constitution.
 
President Mutharika's style of governance has been an issue with sections of the society including religious and civil society leaders leading to the unprecedented July 20 anti-government protests. At least 19 people were shot dead by police during those demonstrations.
 
Western multi-lateral donor agencies and governments have also joined the fray by suspending all development aid to the impoverished southern African country. A British diplomat, Fergus Cochraine-Dyet, was expelled from Malawi after a leaked memo to British Foreign Secretary William Hague described Mutharika as "increasingly becoming autocratic and intolerant of criticism".
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©2012 The Maravi Post. Reproduction authorised, with usual acknowledgment

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