PANAPRESS
Panafrican News Agency
Malawi anti-Mutharika lawyer finally freed
Blantyre, Malawi (PANA) - After a week of worldwide condemnation, Malawi's former Attorney General Ralph Kasambara, arrested over a week ago after he reported a planned assault on his office, was finally freed on Tuesday.
"Yes, the police have now left the hospital after making him sign police bail papers," said one of his lawyers, Wapona Kita.
Kasambara was rushed to hospital from prison for a long-time heart condition. He was apparently not allowed to collect his medical drugs for his heart condition when he was arrested.
"Mr. Kasambara is still in hospital awaiting instructions from his doctors," said Kita.
Kita nonetheless said the outspoken lawyer had instructed them not to drop contempt of court charges he levelled on 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 last Wednesday.
Zomba High Court judge Godfrey Mwase also released him on bail last Thursday but again the bail order was ignored.
Said Kita: "The fact that the police have released him on police bail does not 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 charge 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 President Bingu wa Mutharika for disrespecting court orders.
The outspoken lawyer was arrested after his associates intercepted a gang of five hired thugs, 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 of 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 the outspoken lawyer became the 77-year-old economist-turned-politician's most acerbic critic.
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 abrasive style of governance has alienated him to almost all sections of the society, including religious and civil society leaders leading to the unprecedented July 20 anti-government demonstrations where thousands of Malawians in all major cities and towns took to the streets.
At least 20 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 "increasingly becoming autocratic and intolerant of criticism".
-0- PANA RT/VAO 21Feb2012
"Yes, the police have now left the hospital after making him sign police bail papers," said one of his lawyers, Wapona Kita.
Kasambara was rushed to hospital from prison for a long-time heart condition. He was apparently not allowed to collect his medical drugs for his heart condition when he was arrested.
"Mr. Kasambara is still in hospital awaiting instructions from his doctors," said Kita.
Kita nonetheless said the outspoken lawyer had instructed them not to drop contempt of court charges he levelled on 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 last Wednesday.
Zomba High Court judge Godfrey Mwase also released him on bail last Thursday but again the bail order was ignored.
Said Kita: "The fact that the police have released him on police bail does not 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 charge 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 President Bingu wa Mutharika for disrespecting court orders.
The outspoken lawyer was arrested after his associates intercepted a gang of five hired thugs, 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 of 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 the outspoken lawyer became the 77-year-old economist-turned-politician's most acerbic critic.
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 abrasive style of governance has alienated him to almost all sections of the society, including religious and civil society leaders leading to the unprecedented July 20 anti-government demonstrations where thousands of Malawians in all major cities and towns took to the streets.
At least 20 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 "increasingly becoming autocratic and intolerant of criticism".
-0- PANA RT/VAO 21Feb2012
